American Petroleum Tankers (APT) had its fourth 27,300gt ECO Class tanker, which is currently under construction at Californian shipbuilder General Dynamics NASSCO’s shipyard in San Diego, christened on 17th September. The ship was named the Bay State and is the fourth vessel in a batch of five 50,000 dwt, LNG-conversion-ready product carriers ordered from the shipyard. Sisterships already in service are the 29,923gt/2015 built Lone Star State, the 29,923gt/2016 built duo Magnolia State and Garden State. The ships were designed by DSEC, a subsidiary of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) of Busan, South Korea. The design incorporates improved fuel efficiency concepts through several features, including a G-series MAN ME slow-speed main engine and an optimised hull form.

Concordia Maritime announced on 4th October that it was selling the 29,666gt/2015 built IMOIIMAX tanker Stena Image to a large Japanese financial institution. The transaction is a sale and leaseback agreement, which in this case means that the vessel will be chartered back to Concordia Maritime on a bareboat basis (i.e. without crew) for eight years, with annual purchase options from year four onwards. The sale price was $37.5 million and delivery to the buyer is scheduled for mid-October.

Evergas’ 22,887gt/2015 built and 27,500m3 capacity liquefied petroleum gas carrier JS Ineos Insight delivered the first cargo of US shale gas-derived ethane to the UK on 27th September, opening up a new trade route. The vessel sailed from Marcus Hook in the USA on 10th September and delivered her cargo to the Grangemouth facility owned by petrochemical company Ineos. Ethane, derived from natural gas processing, is used in the petrochemical industry as a feedstock to make plastics. One of the production facilities at Grangemouth had been mothballed for eight years due to falling North Sea production cutting the amount of ethane available from that region, causing losses of up to $100m per year. The IneosMax vessel, along with her sisters, are products of Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering, China.

Knutsen OAS Shipping of Norway took delivery of the newly-built 116,246gt MEGI liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier La Mancha Knutsen from South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries on 26th September. The 290m long, 46.40m beam and 176,300m3 vessel is the first of two large LNG carriers ordered from the Asian shipyard in January 2014. The second ship, the Rioja Knutsen, is scheduled to join the company’s fleet by the end of 2016. The company operates nine advanced LNG carriers, of which eight are on 15-year charters.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. has taken delivery of the 30,565gt, 50,000dwt and 186m long methanol carrier Manchac Sun at Minaminippon Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. on 28th September. The new Eco-Ship is one of the world’s first series of the vessels equipped with a 2-stroke dual-fuelled slow speed main engine capable of running on methanol which is a biodegradable clean burning marine fuel. Methanol significantly reduces smog-causing emissions such as particulates, sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides. In addition, the ship is also equipped with a ballast water treatment system, ahead of treaty requirements. The Manchac Sun will be on long term time charter to Waterfront Shipping Company Limited.

Navig8 Chemical Tankers has announced the cancellation of its contracts to build five 49,000 dwt MR tankers at Korea’s STX Offshore & Shipbuilding. The vessels, which were ordered during the last quarter of 2015, were scheduled for delivery during 2017. Navig8 ordered a series of nine ships initially with two already delivered and two scheduled for delivery, namely the 29,492gt Navig8 Tourmaline in October and the 29,492gt Navig8 Tanzanite in November. Other owners/ operators continue to postpone/cancel orders whilst Kawasaki is considering pulling out of the shipbuilding sector altogether.

Ocean Yield has acquired two 45,000dwt IMO II chemical carriers for $35 million per vessel that are on 12-year bareboat charters to Navig8. The two vessels, which were built in 2013, were delivered to Ocean Yield between at the end of September and November 2016 respectively. Navig8 will also have certain options to acquire the vessels during the charter period.

Sovcomflot of Russia announced that its new arctic shuttle tanker Shturman Albanov had delivered her first oil cargo from the Novy Port oil field in the Gulf of Ob to the port of Murmansk, Russia. The shipment, comprising 34,000 tonnes of crude oil, was successfully loaded at the Arctic Gate terminal, near Cape Kamenny in the Gulf of Ob, on 12th September. The 44,354gt/2016 built Shturman Albanov is the lead ship in a series of 42,000dwt Arctic shuttle tankers ordered by Sovcomflot Group under a long-term contract with Gazprom Neft, operator of the Novy Port field. The tankers will for the first time allow year-round transportation of crude oil from the Yamal Peninsula in the Russian Arctic (YNAD) to Murmansk via portions of the Northern Sea Route, including the Gulf of Ob, Kara Sea, and Barents Sea. The ship is propelled by two 11MW Azipod thrusters that provide enough power and manoeuvrability to sail through ice drifts and heavy ice fields.

Stena Bulk’s 29,666gt Stena Immortal was delivered on 14th September from the Chinese shipyard GSI (Guangzhou Shipbuilding International) in southeast China. The vessel is jointly owned on a 50-50 basis by Stena Bulk and Indonesian Golden Agri Resources (GAR) and is the eighth of a total of 13 IMOIIMAX tankers ordered by Stena Bulk in 2012. She will be operated by Stena Weco and will serve in the company’s global logistics system, which currently employs about 60 vessels. Earlier deliveries of these ships consisted of the Stena Impression, Stena Image, Stena Imperial and Stena Important in 2015 and the Stena Imperative, Stenaweco Impulse and Stena Imagination earlier in 2016. The remaining five vessels will be delivered every third month with the last vessel scheduled for delivery in 2018. Three of the 13 IMOIIMAX tankers are wholly owned by Stena Bulk, six together with GAR (Golden Agri Resources), two by Stena Bulk’s sister company Concordia Maritime and two by Stena Weco. Each ship is 183m long with a 32m beam and 50,000t deadweight.

Stolt Tankers of Norway has extended longterm bareboat charters with Brovig for four stainless-steel chemical tankers. The operator extended the charter agreement for the Stolt Redshank, Stolt Sandpipe, Stolt Greenshank and Stolt Sanderling for another eight years, but did not disclose the charter rates. The quartet of 3,327gt/4,453dwt sisterships are 91m long with a 16m beam, draught of 5.40m and were built by Chongqing Chuandong Shipbuilding company in Fuling, China in 2011.