On Friday, Euronav announced that it has acquired the Seaways Laura Lynn, one of the two remaining ULCCs in the global fleet, for a price of $32.5 million.
Proud owners of ULCC
Antwerp – Euronav has become the world’s only remaining owner of Ultra Large Crude Carriers (ULCCs), the largest class of oil tankers and some of the largest vessels on earth.
She has been renamed “Oceania” – a reflection “TI Oceania”, her name during her first term under Euronav’s management. The 440,000 dwt behemoth will sail under the Belgian flag, and will join the ULCC “TI Europe” in Euronav’s fleet: “Bringing the only other ULCC in the world fleet under our control will provide us with a significant strategic opportunity,” said Paddy Rodgers, CEO of Euronav, in a statement.
The four TI-class supertankers were once the world’s biggest ships by displacement (510,000 tonnes), deadweight tonnage (440,000 dwt) and gross tonnage (234,000 gt).
Smaller than a Construction ship
These ULCCs can each carry three million barrels of crude, which is enough to supply South Korea’s oil consumption for a full day. However, for the overall size record, they are easily outclassed by the 2014-built “Pioneering Spirit”, which weighs in at 400,000 gt and 900,000 tons displacement.
All four were built for Hellespont by DSME in 2002-2003, and they were purchased in 2004 by Euronav and OSG. According to the Oceania’s Equasis record, Euronav served as the supertanker ship manager from 2004-2005.
Used as FSOs
Two of the ships – the former “TI Asia” and “TI Africa” – have since been converted to FSOs and deployed at the Al Shaheen field off Qatar. The “TI Europe” is anchored off Malaysia and used for floating storage on a charter to Statoil.
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Source: The Medi Telegraph
