Switzerland’s Gunvor Group, John Dragnis-led Oceangold Tankers and ABN Amro’s Maas Capital have teamed up to form ClearOcean Tankers.
Incorporated in Cyprus, ClearOcean is a ship holding company which each of the three partners have an equal stake in. The company has already ordered four MR2 product tankers at STX Offshore & Shipbuilding and two LR2 product tankers at Daehan Shipbuilding. The vessels are scheduled for delivery in the first half of 2019 and will scrubber-ready.
Gunvor’s Clearlake Shipping is taking the ships on long-term time charters, while Oceangold Tankers is acting as construction supervision and technical manager.
Jan Andersen, head of shipping at Clearlake, commented: “Expanding into vessel ownership and taking advantage of the historically low shipbuilding prices to contract eco-friendly, scrubber-ready newbuilding tankers represented an attractive opportunity. Teaming up with solid partners like Oceangold Tankers and Maas Capital enables us to control more vessels and to de-risk our investment.”
ClearOcean has already indicated it has the appetite to acquire more vessels in the future, either crude or product tankers, and is open to newbuilds, resale deals or secondhand tonnage.
