Post on 03-Apr-2018
7/29/2019 49 Tanker Trends 9 July
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/49-tanker-trends-9-july 1/9
TANKERtrendsIssue 49, Friday July 9, 2004 A Tanker Operator publication www.tankertrends.com
Barely three years old, Greece’s Primal Tankers is making a
bold bid to become the next Greek tanker company to list
in New York under the banner of TOP Tankers (TOPT).
According to a prospectus filed with the SEC, TOPT seeks
to net around $144m from an ipo to contribute to the $251.2m
purchase price of ten tankers to take its fleet to 17 totalling
1.1m dwt.The offer is of 13.3m shares expected to be priced between
$13 and $15 a share with a 2m share underwriters’ overallot-
ment. The company intends to list on Nasdaq.
Primal started in 2000 with two handysize product carriers
and has built the fleet up to seven consisting of two smallish
Brazilian-built Chevron suezmaxes and two handymax product
carriers plus one more handysize acquired last year. Its primary
customers are Petrobras and Vitol.
The prospectus reveals that Primal Tankers made $1.6m net
profit last year on turnover of $23m from a fleet averaging 4.4
vessels. In the first quarter of 2004, it made $1.24m on rev-
enues of $7.7m based on 5.2 vessels.
The new vessels consist of two suezmaxes and eight 1990’s
Halla-built product carriers that Sovcomflot is clearing out to
make way for its extensive newbuilding programme. The the
product carriers are on charter back for two years at
$14,500/$14,250 a day plus a profit share.
TOPT has negotiated a new secured $193m credit facility,
$107.3m of which will finance the balance of the purchase price,
and the rest refinance existing debt. On completion of the offer-
ing, TOTP will have an indebtedness ratio to total capital of
around 50% which TOTP says is its target leverage for the post-
offer operation and any further acquisitions to be made.
At the moment, 20% of the 6m outstanding shares of TOPT
are owned by 31-year-old Primal principal Evangelos Pistiolis
and 80% by Kingdom Holdings owned “primarily by another
member of the Pistiolos family (Evangelos’s father John?) and
to a limited extent by a third party.” After the offer, Pistiolis
would own 6.7% of TOPT, and the mysterious Kingdom
Holdings still a hefty 20%.
Pistiolis worked as a container broker at Howe Robinson in
the mid 1990’s but the prospectus does not say what he wasdoing from 1995 to the 2000 foundation of Primal Tankers.
The company is to be chaired by Primal’s financial advisor,
Thomas Jackson, long-time shipping banker with Natwest
IN THIS ISSUE:
Egyptian offer on gas 2 Egypt is keen to cooperate with Greek shipown-
ers in the transportation of its natural gas.
Deals go through for Eitzen 3Big week for Oslo Bourse newbie Camillo Eitzen
as it closed on the two main transactions prefig-
ured in its prospectus for last month’s listing.
Oil 4The oil market has come off the boil after tem-
porary supply disruptions in Iraq and Nigeria cat-
apulted US light crude within sight of $40, but
the respite likely will be short lived amid uncer-
tainty over OPEC’s ability to keep pace with
surging global demand.
Suezmax 4The suezmax market in the Western hemi-
sphere climbed again last week, though east of
Suez it was a different story
VL/UL fundamentals 6 The market is ticking along nicely with rates ris-
ing once more this week. July has come in equal
best with May this year with 108 fixtures out of
the Gulf, and the odd one or two may conceiv-
ably trickle in.
Key tanker fixtures 5,
Tanker fleet changes 6,Sales 7,
Worldwatch 8
Tankertrends 9 July 2004 1
First for Primal
7/29/2019 49 Tanker Trends 9 July
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/49-tanker-trends-9-july 2/9
Insight
Tankertrends 9 July 2004 2
Egyptian offer on gas
Egypt is keen to cooperate with Greek
shipowners in the transportation of its
natural gas.
As Egypt moves to develop its natural gasreserves in a bid to become a major produc-
er, the country's government has made an
approach to Greek ship owners suggesting
long term co-operation.
Following recent meetings between
Greece's diplomatic representatives in Cairo
and executives of the Egyptian State
Company of Natural Gas, the Union of Greek
Shipowners has been approached directly to
help in the search for Greek tonnage.
In a letter to the UGS, officials in Egypt
note "Egypt will very soon have the infra-
structure and the capacity to become one of
the main supply centres of natural gas".
Egypt is presently developing its natural
gas sector and is exporting product in liquid
and concentrated form. Indeed, it is seeking
to export product to Greece and believes
Greek ships can be utilised in this business
as well as the wider transportation of its
product.Egypt's natural gas reserves are estimat-
ed to run to 1,736bn cu mtrs.
In 2004/2005 it’s estimated the country's
production of natural gas will reach 35bn cu
mtrs.
Greece presently has a fleet of around 55gas carriers, most of them aged. In all, only
eight Greek operators run gas carriers and
by far the largest of them is the Greek/Syrian
company Naftomar Shipping & Trading
which has 26 LPG carriers, the bulk of them
built in the early to mid 1980s.
Benelux Overseas has 10 LPG carriers,
built from the mid 1970s through to the early
1980s. Dorian (Hellas) has four LPG units,
two built in 1989 and two commissioned in
1997.
Presently five Greek operations are build-
ing 10 gas carriers, four of them, Tsakos
Energy Navigation, Kristen Navigation,
Dynacom Tankers Management and Stamco
Shipmanagement, moving into the sector for
the first time. The fifth is Dorian.
TEN, Kristen and Dynacom and all build-
ing LNG carriers at South Korea's Hyundai
HI, with Kristen and Dynacom, each building
three ships of around 150,000c mtr at aninvestment of around $1.2bn. Tsakos has
one firm, one option, and is actively working
TOPT says itsfinancial strategy isfocused on “main-taining our currentlevel of leverageand distributing aportion of our annual net incomein dividends.”
’
‘
until 1999.
The offer is being lead by Cantor
Fitzgerald, Hibernia Southcoast Capital,
HARRISdirect and Alpha Finance - none
exactly household names in the shipping
public markets.TOPT says its financial strategy is
focused on “maintaining our current level of
leverage and distributing a portion of our
annual net income in dividends.” The current
intention is to pay a first quarterly dividend in
January next year of $0.21 per share which
would cost the company just under $4m.
It intends to focus on the acquisition of
handymax product carriers and suezmaxes,
preferably sisterships.
The company says it will sell its remaining
single hull tankers aggregating 8.1m dwt
before end 2005. Management will be
through a wholly owned subsidiary, TOP
Tanker Management Inc, but technical man-
agement of the new vessels will be left with
their current manager, Unicom, while the
existing fleet will be technically managed byV Ships. However ships are crewed by direct
employees.
Funnily enough the last but one Greek
shipping entrepreneur to float in New York,
Peter Georgiopoulos took a similar route,
with Genmar using the ipo to fund the pur-
chase of a fleet of Sovcomflot obos.
Despite Wall Street’s current love affair
with tanker shipping, it will be interesting to
see whether it fancies financing a fleet past
middle age.
Ian Middleton
7/29/2019 49 Tanker Trends 9 July
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/49-tanker-trends-9-july 3/9
Big week for Oslo Bourse newbie Camillo
Eitzen as it closed on the two main
transactions prefigured in its prospectus for
last month’s listing.
First to close was the agreement to buy
John Fredriksen-controlled Naviera Quimica
and its chemical carrier together with six
other chemical carriers controlled by
Fredriksen. Purchase price was $47mfinanced with $7m in cash, $33m in debt
and $7m in new shares giving Fredriksen a
4% stake in the company.
The share price of Fredriksen’s tranche is
guaranteed for six months unless it equals
or betters the NKr 35 offer subscription price
for two weeks on the stock exchange
together with a minimum share liquidity
threshold, in which case the guarantee will
be released.
Naviera Quimica is a niche operator in
the Mediterranean/Southern Europe trades.
About half its cargo is carried under coa’s,
the rest spot.
That transaction was swiftly followed this
week by closure of a deal to buy nine late-
1980’s-built Stelmar product carriers in the
handymax size range. The vessels are
bareboated back to Stelmar for five years at
an average of $6,528 a day per ship. The
$106.6m deal is 86% debt-financed through
Parmar KS of which CE is general manager
and a 25% stakeholder.
CE’s existing involvement in the chemical
sector is through 11 vessels in the
Copenhagen Tankers jv with Wonsild and
the Clipper Group with a further newbuild-
ing to come this month.
Its oil tanker involvement is through three
early 1990s-built panamax obos.
It participates in the gas shipping market,
both lpg and ethylene, with a 16-vesselowned or part-owned fleet. Prior to the float
it bought Bergesen’s 15% stake in ethylene
carrier operation Sigloo Gas KS taking its
own stake to 40%. The company has also
bought the 20% of Eitzen Bulk that it did not
already own.
Interestingly enough the effect of all these
acquisitions on a pro forma basis, if they had
been in place January 1st, would have been
to reduce CE’s first quarter net profit by
$1.4m from $13m.
As a result of them CE’s fixed assets
have increased from $141m in May to
$245m now. Equity has gone from $38.1m
to $55.6m and long term debt from $117.4m
to $205.4m.
Pro forma, the enlarged group’s 1st quar-
ter would have produced first quarter rev-
enues of $146.3m and net profits of
$11.63m.
Last month’s offering raised NKr301m
through the sale of 8.6m shares at NKr35.
Ian Middleton
... the gas sector “is a competitiveone" with "only four of five companieshaving their ownfleets”.
’‘
Insight
Tankertrends 9 July 2004 3
Deals go through for Eitzen
a project for two similar size gas ships with
Spain's Izar.
The Latsis Group entered the sector in
2003 when it commissioned two 60,000 dwt
LPGs, while Chandris Hellas has been
linked to several newbuilding projects in a
management capacity, most notably UK's
BG Group which has eight 68,250 dwt ships
under construction at Samsung HI in South
Korea, the first of which is delivering, with
the rest to come 2006-2008.
TEN chairman and ceo, Nikolas Tsakos
says the gas sector "is a competitive one"
with "only four of five companies having their
own fleets". He believes that in the future the
use of gas will become more common, and
as is the case with Egypt, points out there "is
a lot of natural gas but no installations for
handling its transportations".
"This will soon change," says Tsakos.
David Glass
7/29/2019 49 Tanker Trends 9 July
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/49-tanker-trends-9-july 4/9Tankertrends 9 July 2004 4
The suezmax market in the Western hemi-
sphere climbed again last week, though
east of Suez it was a different story. The dif-
ferential between average earnings in the
VLCC and suezmax markets is now less than
$10,000 a day.
Med rates in particular jumped 25 pointslast week but early fixtures this week suggest
a falling back to the mid-WS170’s.
Rates transatlantic in the West Africa load
area also beat WS170 with WS192.5 fixed
for Chile although that fixture has failed.
There have been too few fixtures this week to
discern a trend, but brokers suggest that July
is almost done. Galbraith’s says that com-
pared with a couple of years ago, suezmax
tonnage lists are much shorter, although the
Alliance pool of course is not releasing its
forward positions, and charterers are book-
ing earlier in the cycle.
Rates east out of the Gulf have continued
to drop this week on sparse activity taking
earnings to little more than half those in the
Med.
With three suezmaxes due to phase out
this year and 10 still to deliver, net fleet
growth should be around 6% in deadweight
terms - not too dramatic considering theextra flow of oil and its tonne-mile effect.
2005 should see about the same net growth.
It is interesting to note just how much the
fragmented suezmax ownership has consoli-
dated at the top end in the last eighteen
months or so as a result of various deals. The
top four at the beginning of 2003 were the
Fredriksen Group with 31 vesels, Metrostar
with 14, Sovkomflot with 11 and a clutch of
others, including Teekay, with 9. Today
Fredriksen is still at the top with 29 and none
on order, joined by Teekay with 29 but three
on order though the majority are shuttle
tankers, Genmar on 21 with four on order,
and Sovkomflot with 12 but 10 on order.
Ian Middleton
Tankertrends
The oil market has come off the boil after
temporary supply disruptions in Iraq and
Nigeria catapulted US light crude within sight
of $40, but the respite likely will be short lived
amid uncertainty over OPEC’s ability to keep
pace with surging global demand.
Traders are bracing for extreme volatility
over the coming weeks as minor supply
hitches trigger disproportionate price move-
ments in a drum tight market.The near halv-
ing of Iraqi exports to 900,000 b/d after sab-
otage to a pipeline and the loss of 250,000
b/d of Nigerian crude following a workers’
protest cut global supply by just 1.7% for a
few days yet prices jumped to their highest
level in over a month.
With Iraq and Nigeria pumping at near nor-
mal levels again prices are heading lower with
key regional markets, including the US, rela-
tively well supplied with crude and products for
the next few weeks as increased OPEC out-
put is about to arrive at import terminals.
The price retreat was accelerated by
Saudi Arabia’s assurance that OPEC will go
ahead with a planned 500,000 b/d increase
in official production quotas from August thatwere agreed in early June. Earlier comments
by Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi that prices
were at a satisfactory level had cast doubt on
whether the cartel would sanction a second
production increase in as many months
when it meets in Vienna on July 21. OPEC
raised its official output by 2m b/d to 25.5m
b/d in July and is under intense pressure
from consuming nations to pump even more
to prevent a price spike that threatens to
slow global economic growth.
The market is also waiting to see whether
Yukos, Russia’s largest oil producer, will be
forced to reduce some of the 400,000 b/d
exports of crude and products shipped by rail
and river as it attempts to finance its pipeline
shipments after the Kremlin froze its bank
accounts in a bitter dispute over $7 billion of
unpaid taxes. The company insists it will not
cut its exports, which total around 1.2m b/d,
and will respect all its commitments as it has
prepaid its pipeline fees for July traders
remain wary.
For now, traders, hedge funds and specu-
lators, expect the market to soften, probably
sliding to a floor of $35 for US light crude, but
no one rules out another strong rally with
Iraq at the mercy of saboteurs and Nigeriafacing further labour unrest at a time when
global demand is growing at its fastest pace
for 24 years.
Bruce Barnar d
Oil
Suezmax
Point to make?View on the
market?Let us know!
emailsubs@tankertrends.
com
Graph based on datafrom Clarksons
7/29/2019 49 Tanker Trends 9 July
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/49-tanker-trends-9-july 5/9Tankertrends 9 July 2004 5
Voyage
VLCCThe Gulf market is heating up again this
week in a satisfactory way for owners as
early August laycans are fixed at higher
rates than nearer end July positions.
Thus CSSA fixed Asian Progress II for 265k
AG/SAF at WS135 off August 6th. Two days
earlier Engen had fixed a brace of VLCCs for
the same trip at WS120 for end July.
Rates east were making similar progress
with rates topping WS125 for early August
dates against WS120 paid earlier in the
week for late July laycan.
Embiricos’s single hull Falkonera seems
to have done particularly well for the top fix-
ture this week so far scoring a reported
WS130 for 260k AG/Taiwan for Formosa off
August 1st. That takes earnings above
$80,000 a day.
West Africa is maintaining at above
$80,000 a day with Elizabeth Angelicoussis
fixed at WS122.5 by Emerald for 260k
WAF/USG off August 4th. West Africa has
consistently been the best earning VLCC
main route this year underpinned by the
strong suezmax market.
SuezmaxWest African rates for 1m barrel ships
may be losing a little ground this week but
rates are still topping WS160 at presstime.
Thus Andriaki’s Venetia is reported to
have secured WS165 from CNR for a late
July fixture WAF/USG for earnings around
$55,000 a day.
Black Sea suezmaxes, by contrast seem
to be regaining lost ground as the week goes
on. Chevtex has reportedly conceded
WS180 for 135k CPC/UKCMed on Minerva
Symphony off August 1st pulling the market
back up to 15 points on earlier week fixtures
and keeping earnings at a healthy $70,000 a
day or so.
AframaxMed aframax rates are slipping below
Ws200 this week. Fixture of the Livia at
WS207.5 for a cross Med voyage off July
21st failed and replacement Tsakos’s
Parthenon accepted WS195 taking earn-
ings down to around $36,000 a day - stillhealthy of course. A Minerva tbn kept the
flag flying with WS210 from Tamoil for
cross-Med, but other fixtures this week
seem to confirm a WS190s benchmark.
The Caribs market has come roaring
back this week with pride of place going to
Arcadia’s Aegean Legend fixed to Stusco
at WS200 for 70k ECMex/USG off July
14th a thirty point advance on last week
taking earnings to around $36,000 a day.
Other fixtures this week have been in theWS190s.
Time charter Very little activity in the period market.
However, Hyundai has taken NYK’s 1991-
buillt single hull, Tohdoh, on for three years
at $30,000 a day bringing the total number
of VLCCs taken on period charter to 12
this year against 23 for the whole of lastyear. Academically, it is an interesting deci-
sion: around $25m net of operating costs
over three years with only three years of
trading life on redelivery against a sale
value now of about $45m.
Key saleBroker reports suggest that six pana-
max tankers on order at New Centuryshipyard in China for delivery 2004 to 2006
have been sold on to German buyers.
Although few details have been given it
looks as if the ships are those on order for
Consolidated Navigation in Monaco and
the buyer is Chemikalien Seetransport . If
the reported $38.5m per ship price is cor-
rect the seller will have done very well out
of the deal - they were ordered at around
$30m each back in 2002.
The seller may well feel also that he isbetter off out of the panamax market
where the orderbook, at 53.6% of the fleet,
is chronically overblown.
Tankertrends
Key fixtures
7/29/2019 49 Tanker Trends 9 July
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/49-tanker-trends-9-july 6/9Tankertrends 9 July 2004 6
The market is ticking along nicely
with rates rising once more this week.
July has come in equal best with May
this year with 108 fixtures out of the
Gulf, and the odd one or two may con-
ceivably trickle in.
August has now begun in earnest -
traditionally the worst month in the
VLCC market so it will be very interest-
ing to see what happens.
As of last weekend there were only
15 modern vessels available to load in
the following 30 days according to EA
Gibson which could therefore create a
spike in the market for early double hull
tonnage.
Tankertrends
Tanker fleet changes
Newbuilding contracts Scrapping To deliver Week YTD Week YTD 2003
V/ULCC 0 (0) 29 (8,822) 0 (0) 4 (1,342) 20 (6,167)
Suezmax 0 (0) 22 (3,535) 0 (0) 8 (1,128) 13 (2,139)
Aframax/LR2 0 (0) 47 (5,554) 0 (0) 19 (1,819) 23 (2,584)
Panamax/LR1 0 (0) 28 (2,219) 0 (0) 10 (607) 24 (2,748)
MR Prods 40k+ 3 (159) 89 (3,977) 0 (0) 2 (80) 58 (2,675)
Number of vessels (,000 dwt). Not including options.
Table revised. Source Clarkson Research/TT
JAPAN
SHIN KURUSHIMA
1 x 53,000 dwt product carrier (60k cu mtr)
for Clio Maritime. Del from 2006.
2 x 53,000 dwt product carriers for Mitsui.
Del 2006.
WATANABE
1 x 25,000 dwt chemical carrier for Stolt-Nielsen. Del 2005.
KOREA
DAEWOO
3 x 145,000 cu mtr LNG carriers for
Sovcomflot. Del 2007.
3 x 151,700 cu mtr LNG carriers for Teekay.
Del 2006/7. Price $170m.
Newbuilding contracts
VLCC/ULCC Fundamentals
Data from DVB Bank
VL/UL Fundamentals (AG/RS)Spot market: RISINGSpot rates: EXCELLENTAvailability: (exc TI and Frontline)
Total VL V88- V88+ UL (oilco r/l)
Prompt Info n/a15 days30 days
Fixed 8/7 28/6May stems 108 110June stems 102 102July stems 108 73 Aug stems 10 0
Watch out for these charterers:
August just getting underway
7/29/2019 49 Tanker Trends 9 July
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/49-tanker-trends-9-july 7/9Tankertrends 9 July 2004 7
Tankertrends
Cabo Tamar 62 90 Hudong B&W 2SA Chileans undisc 12.5
(Reliable Energy) 39 Prods SONAP
Maersk Princess 100 03 Dalian New Sulzer 2SA Danes Koreans 57
62 Prods AP Moller Daelim Corp
N/B resale 47 05 Onomichi Hong Kong Italians 37
Prods Wah Kwong Socomar
Nile 66 81 Sumitomo Sulzer 2SA Americans undisc 5.2
(Ogden Nile) 41 Prods OMI
*Flores 37 01 Hy. Mipo B&W 2SA Monegasque Germans
23 Chemoil Arminter GEBAB
*Kerel 37 02 Hy. Mipo B&W 2SA Monegasque Germans
23 Chemoil Arminter GEBAB
*Sicilia 37 01 Hy. Mipo B&W 2SA Monegasque Germans
23 Chemoil Arminter GEBAB
*Gianutri 37 04 Hy. Mipo Monegasque Germans
23 Chemoil Arminter GEBAB
*N/B resale 37 05 Hy. Mipo Monegasque Germans
23 Chemoil Arminter GEBAB
6 x N/B resales 73 04/6 New Century Monegasque Germans $38.5m
Prods Consolidated Nav CST each
*New info see issue 47
Sales
Ship name Dwt/Gt Blt Yard Engine Sold by Sold to Price(ex name) (,000) Type (reported) ($m)
Name
Job Title
Company
Billing address
Postcode Email
Tel no: Fax no:
Fax hotline: +44 (0)20 7510 2344 Tel hotline: +44 (0)20 7510 0015 email: subs@tankertrends.com
Subscribe online at www.tankertrends.com
Cardholder’s name:
Credit card no:
Start date:
Expiry date:
Security no:( last 3 numbers on the back of the card,or 4 numbers on the front of AMEX)
Subscription Form
Yes, I wish to subscribe to TANKER trends (tick one)
o 48 issues at £595 or $995
o 24 issues at £395 or $650
7/29/2019 49 Tanker Trends 9 July
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/49-tanker-trends-9-july 8/9Tankertrends 9 July 2004 8
n Genmar has closed on new $825m
senior secured financing facility lead by
Nordea. The facility consists of a $225mterm loan and a $600m revolving credit
facility.
The term loan has a five year maturity at
a rate of LIBOR plus 1%. It amortises
quarterly with a $35m balloon. The non-
amortising revolver is of the same tenor
and rate with a 0.5% commitment fee on
the unused portion. Co-arrangers were
Citibank, HSH Nordbank, Dresdner Bank,
Bank of Scotland and RBS.
Concurrently the company has retired
existing facilities totalling $730m and
is left with liquidity of $370m after the
transaction.
n A Korean lpg carrier is reported by
Chinese news agency Xinhua to have
been in collision with a Chinese vessel,
Jingan No 6 off Lushun with one seamendead off the Chinese vessel and another
missing.
The dead man was one of 18 crewmen
rescued from the sea after the Jingan no
6 sank. A search was still on for the
remaining crew member.
The Korean vessel, operated by
Saehan Marine of Seoul, has been
ordered in to Dalian pending investiga-
tion. Saehan Marine has a 9-vessel fleet
of small lpg vessels, chemical carriers
and sulphur carriers.
n Gas tanker and lightering specialist, IM
Skaugen, reports a $1.5m net loss for the
second quarter of this year (2003 2Q: $2m
profit) on net revenues of $21.4m (2003
2Q: $47m) taking first half losses to
$2.3m. The reduction in revenues is main-ly due to the sale of 50% of the Skaugen
Petrotrans lightering business to Teekay.
Gas activities, mainly through Norgas,
experienced much weaker conditions than
anticipated during the quarter due to ashortage of product worldwide resulting in
more idle time for the fleet. Shuttle tanker
activities achieved “acceptable” results
after a challenging start to the year.
n Only Indian-flagged LNG carriers will
be allowed to carry LNG imports into the
country the Indian Shipping Ministry has
decided. Furthermore, importing vessels
must have a minimum 26% Indian stake
in the ownership of the vessel. The restric-
tions are tied to the introduction of a ton-
nage tax regime for the Indian flag and
will apply when it comes in. Such vessels
will also have to carry a minimum of two
Indian officers and two Indian cadets.
Partners in such vessels must also agree
to a transfer of technology to the Indian
partner so that within five years theship will be managed, maintained and
operated by the Indian partner. Spot car-
goes can be carried on any vessel provid-
ed they do not exceed 10% of annual
import volumes.
n Algerian reports say that crew of
Hyproc Shipping gas tanker Chihani
Bachir were subjected to “humiliating”
treatment by US marines and
Coastguard personnel who boarded the
ship at gunpoint off the Lake Charles,
Louisiana, LNG terminal in April. The
captain and 43 Algerian crewmen were
questioned for hours. Details emerged
after the vessel returned recently to
Arzew. A leaked report to Hyproc's parent
Sonatrach and and Alegerian Energy
Minister Chakib Khalil described the inci-dent as “shameful” and tarnishing
Algeria's reputation and sovereignty.
Worldwatch
Worldwatch
7/29/2019 49 Tanker Trends 9 July
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/49-tanker-trends-9-july 9/9
Stuart Fryer Publisher
Ian Middleton Contributing Editor
Vivian Chee Production
Subscription price:48 issues at £595 or $995
24 issues at £395 or $650
For subscription enquiries, pleasecontact subs@tankertrends.com
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7510 0015
Fax: +44 (0)20 7510 2344
This publication and electronic infor-
mation service is protected by copy-
right.
Reproduction by any means -
including photocopying, faxing or
electronic data capture and transmis-
sion for any purpose other than for
the personal use of the registered
subscriber - is illegal. The publishers
reserve the right to cease supplying
the publication where infringement of
copyright is evident and to take legal
action for damages.
Although every effort has been
made to ensure that the information
contained in this review is correct, the
publishers accept no liability for any
inaccuracies that may occur.
Published in the UK
Tankertrends213 Marsh Wall London E14 9FJ, UK.Telephone: +44 (0)20 7510 0015Fax: +44 (0)20 7510 2344
email: subs@tankertrends.comwww.tankertrends.com
© Copyright Maritime Content Ltd 2004
Tankertrends 9 July 2004 9
Football fever
ABN Amro Greece's
shipping chief Dimitri Anagnostopoulos was in
ebullient mood at the
bank's 30th anniversary
celebration at the Astir
Place this week.
Football fan
Agnastopoulos joked to
guests that he had person-
ally arranged the party
(months before) to double
as a celebration of
Greece's winning Euro
2004.
Mind you, to be fair, he
had been offering to take
bets on Greece at a private
dinner before Greece's dra-
matic victory against the
Portuguese.
Guests including many
prominent shipowners,were treated to displays of
synchronised swimming for
some reason - are the
Greeks about to conquer
Europe in this endeavour
also?
Wonder if Agnastopoulos
managed to emulate the
punter in the south of England who won £330,000
with a series of bets on the
winners starting with a mod-
est £4,000 before a ball had
been kicked in anger.
A Burmese businessman
apparently.
They know their football
in Burma...and in Greece
as we must now all
concede.
40:40:20 anyone?
I must say the heart sank
as I read the latest
bureaucratic endeavour
from the Indian ministry of
shipping. Only Indian flag
ships will be allowed to
carry LNG imports into the
country on long term char-
ters. The regulations are
stayed until India's pro-
posed tonnage tax system
comes in (which given the
interminable wrangling that
accompanies such reformscould well be years). Up
until then, therefore, import
vessels can be foreign reg-
istered but must be mini-
mum 26% owned by an
Indian partner (shouldn't
that be 25 times the square
root of minus one?).
Furthermore, once the
regulations are operative,
chartered vessels must
have a minimum of two
Indian officers and two
trainee officers/cadets, one
each on the engineering
and deck side respectively.
Ownership consortium
members have to transfer
technology to the Indian
partner within five years so
that the Indian partner becomes the manager and
operator of the vessel.
Really makes you want to
get involved doesn't it.
Icing on the cake is that
importers can use foreign
vessels to import spot car-
goes - but only if such
imports do not exceed 10%
of annual imports (on a ter-
minal by terminal basis!).
Think about it.
Let's hope the good citi-
zens of Bangalore or wher-
ever appreciate this
Kafkaesque scheme to pro-
mote Indian shipping while
sitting in the dark due the
inability of their local LNG
importer to bring in a spot
cargo because he will be
over the limit.
The Cubancastle
Talking of which, it's been
noted in several places
that a US Navy spokesman
put up to answer journalists
questions about the prison
at Guantanamo Bay is one
Lieutenant Mike Kafka.That's right - a prison where
inmates are only vaguely
charged with crimes, can't
speak to lawyers and may
never get out.
Ian Middleton
The Back Page
Diary
TANKERtrends