Norwegian shipowner Tor Olav Troim is backing the VLCC newbuilding trend by doubling up on his original pair of vessels contracted in China last year for his latest fledgling venture Andes Shipping.
Troim has contracted two more VLCCs at New Time Shipbuilding in China, where he originally set aside the first two berths for Andes’ initial vessels.
While the first two VLCCs, which were ordered for the account of Troim’s private company Magni Partners, are believed to be LNG dual-fuel, 320,000-dwt vessels, Troim told TradeWinds “we have options to go both ways” on these latest newbuildings.
In an article about these latest two orders, Norwegian publication Finansavisen priced the newbuildings at between $116m and $117m each.
An additional $19m premium needs to be added if the ships are to be built as LNG dual-fuel.
All four tankers are due to be delivered in 2026 and 2027.
Andes is believed to be sitting on another pair of optional slots for VLCCs at the Chinese yard.
Troim, who also controls bulk shipowner Himalaya Shipping and now appears to be continuing the mountain range theme with Andes, told Finansavisen last year that his own company Magni Partners is the main shareholder of the new venture, with “good friends and family” also engaged with the project.
The Norwegian publication named Jens Martin Jensen and Gunnar W Eliassen as working with Troim on the VLCC business.
Troim — who has been an advocate of the use of LNG — first publicly revealed a surprise return to the VLCC business on stage at the June 2023 Marine Money event in New York.
At the time, the VLCC newbuilding orderbook had slumped to around 18 vessels, 10 of which are LNG dual-fuelled.
Since then, other big names have apparently followed his lead but taken different paths on their fuelling choices, with Greek owners also hunting for berths.
Evangelos Marinakis’ Capital Maritime & Trading has inked a four-ship LNG dual-fuelled order in China with options for another pair of ships.
Euronav also confirmed a TradeWinds report that it had ordered an extra ammonia-ready VLCC newbuilding in China, declaring an option for a fourth vessel at Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry.
Troim’s former business partner John Fredriksen has also piled in.
His private Seatankers Management has booked up to eight conventionally fuelled scrubber-fitted ships comprising six firm vessels with options for two more vessels.
Today Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network lists the current orderbook for VLCC newbuildings at 28 vessels.
