Denmark’s Maersk Tankers is diversifying with a new voyage management operation.
The owner and pools player said it is expanding by building on its expertise in commercial vessel operations and fuel optimisation.
The first new client is a departure for the tanker player, with LPG carrier owner and trading company Petredec’s Petredec Global platform in London committing seven of its gas vessels to the service initially.
Maersk Tankers will handle day-to-day vessel operations, fuel optimisation and claims handling, covering full post-fixture support from the time the vessel is fixed for a voyage, through its successful execution, to the closure of the voyage books.
The aim is to help ship operators and owners achieve greater economic and environmental efficiency in day-to-day operations.
Petredec is the world’s largest pure VLGC owner, with 26 VLGCs and an average age profile of only five years.
“They operate fuel-efficient vessels with one of the best fleet-wide annual efficiency ratings. For the company, the agreement is part of an ambitious strategy aimed at generating operational efficiencies and reducing carbon emissions,” Maersk Tankers said.
“It is not through technological advances alone that the industry’s environmental goals will be achieved. Collaboration and leveraging the expertise of other leaders in the industry will be key. We welcome this partnership with Maersk Tankers as an example of this,” said Tom Lush, head of commercial shipping at Petredec.
Maersk Tankers will take over operations of the first vessel at the end of April.
More partners sought
The company is looking to sign further partnerships with shipowners.
Aditya Trehan, head of operations at Maersk Tankers, said: “Shipowners are under increasing pressure to boost the economic and environmental performance of their vessels.”
“Ensuring efficiency in day-to-day operations can make a huge impact,” he added.
Trehan said Maersk Tankers commercially manages more than 150 vessels across six pools.
It handles more than 2,000 voyages for shipowners annually.
“Through the scale of our operations, we have a global team covering all regions and time zones and have strong connections to port operators worldwide,” he said.
In November, Petredec unveiled its new UK handysize LPG carrier division Fortitude Shipping.
Based in London, it will have control over 11 LPG carriers in the 21,000-cbm to 22,500-cbm size range.
Petredec said Fortitude’s fleet will comprise eight modern ethane/ethylene-capable vessels, two semi-refrigerated vessels and one fully refrigerated ship with an average age of four years.
The year before, the company formed Petredec Global to run its trading platform and VLGC fleet.
The remaining LPG carrier stayed with the Singapore-based parent company.
