A Norwegian aframax tanker operator that last made headlines in shipowning decades ago hopes to return to its roots in shortsea dry bulk trading.
Another venerable shipowning name could soon refocus from small containerships to small bulk trades.
The opportunity to rethink their business plans has come thanks to a DNV GL-led contest that offers long-term guarantees of employment for the best zero-emission small bulker.
Some entrants in the GreenBulk project are already established shortsea dry bulk players. But Sandefjord and Oslo-based containership owner Thor Dahl Shipping would be blazing a new trail. Tanker operator Gard Shipping of Tonsberg would be re-entering a trade it last worked in the 1990s.
In-house capacity
Tore Gard-owned Gard Shipping was a dry shortsea player before becoming a spot-oriented pure tanker operator in the aframax and LR2 space.
"We still have the shortsea operational capacity in-house," Gard Shipping official Jens-Christian Hedemark told TradeWinds.
Gard Shipping and Thor Dahl are among 21 Norwegian and international shortlisted participants in the pilot project Transport of Gravel and Grain by Sea, unofficially called GreenBulk by organisers.
HeidelbergCement and agricultural co-operative Felleskjopet Agri are offering contracts of up to 20 years' duration for a first ship, with prospects of further charters if the prototype turns into a newbuilding series.
One of the reasons we are not already buying ships is that we have no confidence in what will become the new propulsion technology.
Henning Torp, chief executive of Thor Dahl
TradeWinds reported in July that the competition represents the world’s first commercial tender to build and own zero-emission bulker newbuildings. In November, TradeWinds revealed an unexpected expansion of the shortlist.
A parallel competition for fuel suppliers has drawn 11 entrants.
Final quotes from shortlisted shipowners are due on 10 January, and from fuel suppliers a week later.
Like many other owners that want to invest in fleet renewal, Thor Dahl and Gard Shipping are reluctant to do so at a time when uncertainties about the regulatory future make conventional projects risky.
Flexible to invest
But GreenBulk's incentives would lift owners over the investment threshold for a restart.
"One of the reasons we are not already buying ships is that we have no confidence in what will become the new propulsion technology. We wish to build up a fleet of zero-emission ships," said Henning Torp, chief executive of Thor Dahl.
The company he runs is in a position to invest. Bergen-based JO Odfjell recently bought in alongside Thor Dahl chairman Tom Bergesen as a major shareholder. Each holds just over 40%.
With a current owned fleet of three small ageing containerships in addition to four vessels it manages for Westwood Shipping, Thor Dahl has kept a low profile in the sale-and-purchase market of late.
But Torp believes this gives his company an advantage. If it had invested in the "eco" designs of recent years, it would be committed to technologies that may already be obsolete.
"We are more flexible to invest because we are not invested in 'eco', so we can go into new technology wholeheartedly," he said. "With a fleet of 15 to 20-year-old ships, the residual risk is nothing to lose sleep over."
Torp declined to comment on banker interest but said finance is not the issue for new technology.
"There are many players who want to participate. The bottleneck is demand," he said. But with blue-chip charterers in place, the GreenBulk project lifts it over that problem.
Shortlisted bidders are proposing zero-emission solutions fuelled by compressed hydrogen, liquefied hydrogen, ammonia and liquid organic hydrogen carrier compounds.
Thor Dahl, in cooperation with Oslo design firm Naval Dynamics, is putting its money on hydrogen fuel cell propulsion.
Growing the project
Gard Shipping is not commenting on its chosen propulsion solution. Its propulsion design partner is Netherlands-based Future Proof.
TradeWinds understands that HeidelbergCement and Felleskjopet Agri need at least the equivalent of two 5,000-dwt bulkers for their needs in moving aggregates from western Norway to the Oslo Fjord region and grain cargoes back.
Gard Shipping believes it can be profitable with a single ship, but, like Thor Dahl, it is looking to grow the project.
"We will leave it to the charterers to comment on possible further ships, but if we did not think we could make a profit on one ship, we would not have bid," Hedemark said. "Right now, we just want to prove that we have a technically viable proposal."
An award to the winning shipowner is scheduled for 15 February.
