Norway's Stolt Tankers and UK shipping fund manager Tufton Investment Management have formed a new chemical carrier pool as they look at ways to reduce carbon emissions.
The agreement covers seven of Tufton's tankers of between 19,000 dwt and 22,000 dwt, which will joint the Stolt Tankers Joint Service DeepSea Fleet (STJS).
Tufton will begin handing over ships immediately and the full transfer will be complete in the third quarter.
The deal also includes a carbon reduction and sustainability information-sharing agreement.
This will involve a joint pursuit of vessel efficiency and propulsion research, environmental projects and a biofuel testing programme.
Natural progression
Lucas Vos, president of Stolt Tankers, part of Oslo-listed Stolt-Nielsen, told TradeWinds the company already has one Tufton tanker under a management deal and was pleased with the results.
"When Tufton then thought about putting these ships within the same platform, we became the obvious choice," he added.
He believes the addition of Tufton's ships to the STJS fleet demonstrates Stolt Tankers’ ability to generate customer value in a challenging market by adding tonnage from a "top-tier" platform.
Vos expects the vessels to improve the company's overall offering by enhancing logistical flexibility and synergies.
Tufton chief investment officer Paulo Almeida said: "Tufton funds own 12 chemical tankers, a market segment with a very attractive risk-return profile, especially if operated in a well-aligned partnership like the one we have with Stolt Tankers."
He added that the company is very pleased to have grown the relationship with Stolt Tankers over the past few years.
Open to expansion
As for adding other Tufton tankers to any pools, Vos told TradeWinds: "I would first like to make this successful before expanding this pool even further, but we are always open to good opportunities."
STJS is where Stolt Tankers groups its deepsea ships, with its main partner, NYK Line of Japan.
"However, as this is really a different segment [J19 designs], we have created a sub-pool, but with similar terms and conditions. So it really is Tufton and ourselves," Vos added.
In May, Tufton Investment Management-managed Tufton Oceanic Assets said it was acquiring an unnamed chemical tanker for $9.8m.
The pool deal is the latest consolidation move in the chemicals shipping sector.
German venture
In November, Stolt Tankers formed a new company with Germany's John T Essberger Group to run small chemical tankers in Europe.
The new company — E&S Tankers — manages 48 ships ranging in size from 2,800 dwt to 11,300 dwt.
Trading is focused in particular on the Baltic, Mediterranean and north-west Europe regions.
At the time, Stolt indicated it was open to more consolidation moves.
Also in 2020, Norwegian rival Odfjell launched an MR chemical tanker pool with Navig8, before quickly adding seven Transportation Recovery Fund ships to bring the total to 19 vessels.
Chembulk, Team Tankers, Womar and Maersk Tankers were all also involved in cooperation deals last year.
