AN effort to slim down its VLCC fleet
Major tanker owner Mitsui OSK Lines is making a concerted effort to slim down its VLCC fleet. Fresh from reports a week ago of MOL scrapping the youngest VLCC to date – a 1995 double hulled giant – US investment bank Dahlman Rose has added that MOL has scrapped another pair of VLCCs.
These two, built in 1996 and 1997, are now the youngest VLCCs to ever have been scrapped. Dahlman Rose suggests a total of 20 VLCCs have been sent for demolition this year, around half of which were sent in the final quarter.
As MOL comes to terms with the projected lengthy downturn for tanker rates it has also recently formed a VLCC pool in Singapore which counts AP Moller-Maersk among its partners.
Source: Seatrade Asia