Maersk Tankers Adds MR Duo, More Orders to Come When the Price Is Right
Maersk Tankers, tanker arm of the Danish shipping conglomerate Maersk, christened two more newbuilds at Sungdong Shipyard in Tongyong, South Korea, on Friday, April 8th.
Named Maersk Teesport and Maersk Tianjing, the 50,000 DWT Medium Range (MR) duo join their sister ship Maersk Tangier that was delivered in February this year as part of the company’s fleet renewal plan.
In 2015 Maersk Tankers took delivery of the first two of 10 vessels in total ordered from the Sungdong Shipyard; Maersk Tampa and Maersk Tacoma.
Within the next few years approximately 20% of Maersk Tankers fleet will be replaced with newbuilds already ordered. The company has ten vessels from Sungdong in South Korea and nine additional MR vessels from Ningbo Shipyard in China, expected to be delivered in 2017 and 2018.
The company says that it is continuously looking at opportunities to renew its fleet, both with newbuilds and second-hand vessel. As a result, it is closely monitoring the price levels in the market “to make sure the investments are made at an attractive level.”
“As part of our Taking Lead Strategy, we have increased our investment in the product tanker business in order to strengthen our fleet. Besides the newbuild order book we have also replaced some of our older vessels with second-hand vessels. We will continue our renewal of the fleet, when we believe that the pricing is at an attractive level again. At the time being the price level is too high,” says Claus Grønborg, Head of Business Development.
Maersk Tankers has a fleet of 156 vessels – 82 vessels of their own, 24 T/C vessels and 50 vessels in pools.
