Jakarta-listed Buana Lintas Lautan (BULL) is reportedly wrapping up a deal to acquire four ice-classed chemical tankers from Maersk Product Tankers.

The deal would be the second major purchase that the Kevin Wong-led tanker owner has struck with the Danish shipping giant in recent months.

Brokers in both Europe and Asia said BULL has lined up an enbloc deal to acquire the ice- class quartet of Jinling-built, near-sisterships that comprises of the 14,900-dwt Bro Distributor (built 2006), 14,800-dwt Bro Designer and Bro Deliverer (both built 2006), and 14,700-dwt Bro Developer (built 2007).

The vessels were originally built for Brostrom AB, which was taken over by Maersk in 2011.

No pricing details have been made known in the market, although Allied Shipbrokers said in its most recent market report that the deal included both cash and shares.

Wong declined to comment on the deal.

Last December Maersk Product Tankers, majority owned by AP Moller Holding, sold the 109,600-dwt, LR2-type product tanker Maersk Pelican (built 2008) to BULL, which renamed it Timberwolf.

The vessel is one of a handful in the world installed with rotor sails, which are cylindrical mechanical sails that spin to create a pressure differential — known as the Magnus effect — that can propel a vessel forward.

Affiliate Maersk Tankers, which operated the ship, said the retrofit achieved an 8.2% fuel saving and reduced CO2 emissions by 1,400 tonnes in a year-long trial that ended in 2020.

At the same time, BULL acquired the Maersk Pelican’s non-retrofitted sistership, the 109,600-dwt Maersk Petrel (built 2007), which was renamed Sembrani.

International expansion

BULL, which has a fleet up close to 40 tankers and gas carriers covering all size segments, has been on a buying binge since early 2019, acquiring 13 tankers that year and a further five in 2020.

Last July, Wong, its ambitious president-director, told TradeWinds that this aggressive growth allowed the company to enter the international tanker markets, where rates were approximately 20% higher than the Indonesian domestic market in which oil major Pertamina has a near monopoly.

He stressed that the company had built a stable cash flow in Indonesia but, being used to working in a low-rate environment, it was also able to benefit from the strong international tanker markets.

Many of the larger tankers purchased during the past two years are non-Indonesian-flagged and have been fixed on long-term charters to international oil majors and traders or are deployed in internationally managed pools.

BULL’s strategy is to acquire high-margin, mid-cycle vessels aged 10 to 15 years from well-known owners.