Tankers News

VINGA vessel naming ceremony and 40 years of design collaborationcutFOLDER-VINGA-serien-webb.pdf [Full background and tech spec - MR DEC 2026cutVinga VesselA newly built tanker in Furetank's VINGA series will be named at the Port of Uddevalla on 28 August. The vessel was designed by Furetank and FKAB Marine Design, the cumulative of 40 years of vessel design collaboration."We know operations and FKAB knows shipbuilding. Our collaboration has been a winning equation over the years — one plus one has equalled three.

ABS and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HD HHI), signed a joint development agreement to support the development of a U.S.-flagged 50,000 DWT oil and chemical tanker.Under the agreement, ABS will review the HD HHI design in accordance with ABS Rules and U.S. Coast Guard requirements.“From the first 100,000 DWT tanker to today’s most advanced tanker designs, ABS has provided owners and operators with the insight and guidance they need to achieve their goals, always with a focus on safety.

China's trade in major commodities in May underscored that price moves are the primary driver of changes in flows in the world's biggest buyer of natural resources.The headline-grabbing number from customs data was the collapse in crude oil imports to an eight-year low of just 7.79 million barrels per day (bpd). The fallout from the war in Iran was blamed for the 29% slump in crude imports. In the months prior to the start of the conflict on February 28, levels of around 11 million bpd were common.The war resulted in the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz…

Anemoi Marine Technologies and its partners have completed a joint development project aimed at simplifying the integration of Rotor Sail wind propulsion systems on medium-range (MR) tankers, with classification society DNV granting Approval in Principle (AiP) for the design.The project was developed in collaboration with Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) and tanker operator Hafnia and focused on integrating two folding, explosion-rated Rotor Sails into an MR tanker design.The…

Commodity trader Mercuria is suing the Baltic Exchange, the world's top provider of benchmark shipping indices, over losses it said were caused by oil tanker pricing data that did not account for the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a court filing showed.The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which began on February 28, has left hundreds of ships and 20,000 seafarers stranded inside the Gulf and unable to sail through the vital chokepoints with only a few ships willing to make the voyages daily.In a court filing dated April 30 and submitted through England's high court…

Wind propulsion specialist bound4blue has completed the second installation of its suction sail system for Maersk Tankers, fitting four 24-meter eSAIL units on the Maersk Tahiti at a shipyard in China.The installation forms part of a broader agreement to equip five medium-range tankers with a total of 20 units, the company’s largest single contract to date.The Maersk Tahiti installation follows the completion of the first system onboard the Maersk Trieste earlier in 2026.According to bound4blue…

Stolt-Nielsen Limited opened 2026 with a solid—if more tempered—financial performance, underscoring both the resilience of its diversified logistics portfolio and the mounting pressures facing global chemical shipping markets.The London-based group reported first-quarter revenue of $716.8 million and net profit of $47.5 million for the period ending February 28, 2026, compared to $675.6 million and $151.4 million, respectively, in the same period a year ago. The sharp year-on-year profit decline was largely attributable to one-off gains booked in 1Q25…

"By the end of the first quarter of 2026, the global shipping order book hit a 17-year high, reaching 191m Compensated Gross Tonnes (CGT). This is equivalent to 17% of the global fleet, the highest ratio since 2011. The order book has been boosted by higher newbuilding contracting throughout the 2020s and most recently by the highest quarterly crude tanker contracting in history,” says Filipe Gouveia, Shipping Analysis Manager at BIMCO.During the first quarter of 2026, newbuilding contracting has risen 40% y/y to 17.6m Compensated Gross Tonnes (CGT)…

Europe should keep an open mind on helping to ensure freedom of navigation for ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz even if the continent did not support the U.S.-Israeli decision to go to war with Iran, Denmark's foreign minister said on Monday.President Donald Trump said on Sunday his administration was talking to several countries about protecting ships in the waterway that Tehran has mostly blocked to oil tanker traffic."We must face the world as it is, not as we want it to be…

When Saudi Aramco told its oil buyers in a letter this week that it had no clear idea which port it would use for April exports, it laid bare a new reality: Iran, not the United States, holds the key to reopening the global energy market.The letter, sent to Saudi oil buyers around the world, said they might receive oil from the Red Sea, but they might still get it from the Gulf."I might as well call Iran to find out when this war ends so I can get my oil," one regular Saudi oil…

A Greek‑operated oil tanker has sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, ship tracking data showed on Monday, in a sign that some commercial vessels are still attempting to navigate the vital passage despite the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.The Shenlong Suezmax, with a capacity of 1 million barrels, is carrying Saudi Arabian crude loaded at the port of Ras Tanura and is listing its destination as the Indian port of Mumbai, according to analysis from maritime data platforms Kpler, Lloyd’s List Intelligence and MarineTraffic.The tanker last recorded its position inside the strait on March 8…

North American Blue Energy, a company backed by U.S. energy magnate Harry Sargeant III, has moved to export nearly 1 million barrels of Venezuelan crude for delivery into China, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing a document.The cargo may be the first delivery of Venezuelan oil to the Asian country since the US took control of the nation's oil sales earlier this year, the report said.U.S. President Donald Trump has been taking steps to ease sanctions against Venezuela following the arrest of President Nicolas Maduro and urging U.S.

Around 50 French ships are currently blocked in the Persian Gulf and another eight in the Red Sea, France's Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said on Friday, as Paris seeks support to build a coalition of countries to secure shipping traffic in the region."There are around fifty ships - 52 to be precise - in the Persian Gulf and eight in the Red Sea, and we are also in permanent contact with the crews, as there are French sailors aboard a number of these vessels," Tabarot told French broadcaster CNews/Europe 1.(Reuters - Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro; Editing by Makini Brice)

Insurance companies are cancelling war risk coverage for vessels in the Gulf as the widening Iran conflict disrupted shipping, leaving at least four tankers damaged, two seafarers killed and 150 ships stranded around the Strait of Hormuz.Shipping through the strait between Iran and Oman, which carries around one-fifth of oil consumed globally as well as large quantities of gas, has ground to a near halt after vessels in the area were hit as Iran retaliated to U.S. and Israeli strikes.The disruption and fears of prolonged closure have caused oil and European natural gas prices to jump…

Low ship recycling activity could undermine tanker market strength in the coming years, BIMCO said in its February 2026 Tanker Shipping Market Overview & Outlook, even as crude tanker earnings are expected to remain firm in the near term.“We expect continued strong market conditions for crude tankers in 2026 and 2027 despite some weakening in 2027. On the other hand, we forecast that the product tanker market will weaken during both years as fleet and supply growth accelerates…

India has seized three U.S.-sanctioned tanker ships linked to Iran this month and stepped up surveillance in its maritime zone to curb illicit trade, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday.India aims to prevent its waters from being used for ship-to-ship transfers that obscure the origin of oil cargoes, the source added.The seizures and heightened surveillance follow an improvement in U.S.-India relations. Washington earlier this month announced it will cut import tariffs on Indian goods to 18% from 50%…

Bahri posted record financial results in 2025, underpinned by a strengthening crude tanker market and a larger, younger owned fleet that increased exposure to improving rate conditions.Full-year revenue reached $10.35 billion, up 9% year-on-year, while net profit climbed to a record $2.43 billion. Momentum accelerated in the second half of the year as VLCC markets tightened, supported by longer-haul crude trade flows and limited fleet growth across the global tanker sector. Fleet expansion was a central driver of performance.

U.S. military forces boarded a crude oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after pursuing it from the Caribbean, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Monday, accusing the vessel of breaching Washington's blockade on sanctioned vessels traveling to or from Venezuela."Overnight, U.S. military forces conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding on the Aquila II without incident " Hegseth wrote in a post on X. "It ran, and we followed."After capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a military raid last month in Caracas, the U.S.

AET signed an agreement for its first hybrid electric Dynamic Positioning Shuttle Tanker (DPST), designed to be dual-fuel, lower-emissions-ready and secured on long-term charter. AET operates one of the world’s largest DPST fleets, with 17 vessels deployed across Brazil and Norway, and further growth planned. With dual-fuel capability across all tanker segments, the addition of hybrid electric propulsion further broadens lower-emissions optionality for customers while enhancing competitiveness.The agreement was signed with Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Corp.

Kongsberg Maritime has been hired by Consórcio Marenova to design and equip four methanol- and ethanol-ready handy-size product tankers for Petrobras Transporte (Transpetro).The vessels will be built by Consórcio Marenova, a partnership between Ecovix in Rio Grande and MacLaren in Niterói, and will be operated by Transpetro.Kongsberg Maritime said the contract is valued at more than $31 million (NOK 300 million) and includes delivery of complete ship design and a range of integrated systems.These include propulsion systems with Promas and controllable pitch propellers…

About 2 million barrels of Venezuelan heavy crude are being sent to refineries owned by oil producer Repsol in Spain, following purchases the company negotiated with trading house Trafigura, according to shipping schedules seen by Reuters.Trafigura and Vitol were granted U.S. licenses last month to export millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil to the U.S. and other destinations, following the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro. The companies have since been storing the oil in Caribbean terminals and marketing cargoes to refiners in the U.S.

Hafnia has taken delivery of the ECOMAR GIRONDE, the final vessel in its four-ship ECOMAR dual-fuel methanol newbuilding program developed in joint venture with France’s Socatra, completing the newbuilding series.Built at Guangzhou Shipyard International in China, ECOMAR GIRONDE is a 49,800-deadweight dual-fuel, methanol-capable Chemical IMO II medium-range tanker. With its delivery, the ECOMAR quartet - ECOMAR GASCOGNE, ECOMAR GARONNE, ECOMAR GUYENNE and ECOMAR GIRONDE - is now…

Lloyd’s Register (LR) has introduced significant enhancements to its Condition Assessment Program (CAP) Thickness Measurement Analysis process, designed to improve consistency, transparency and predictability in the assessment of tankers built to Common Structural Rules (CSR).The updated methodology addresses concerns regarding variability in CAP outcomes for CSR vessels. By aligning thickness measurement analysis directly with the vessel’s original CSR design requirements, LR has moved away from percentage-based acceptance criteria and adopted fixed, clearly defined thickness values.