Teekay Corporation has announced that it has recently placed an order for two LNG-fueled aframax shuttle tankers at South Korean yard Samsung Heavy Industries.
The vessels will be built based on Teekay’s New Shuttle Spirit design and join the company’s North Sea operations after delivery in late 2020 and early 2021.
“Over the last couple of years, we have secured several new shuttle tanker CoA contracts at higher rates and built the largest and most diversified CoA contract portfolio in the North Sea,” Teekay said in a statement.
The company believes global shuttle tanker utilization is expected to increase as new fields come on stream faster than old fields rolling off, while no uncommitted newbuidings on order and an ageing fleet with an estimated 33 DP2 ships, representing 39% of the global fleet, set to retire by 2025.
Teekay currently has another four suezmax shuttle tankers under construction at Samsung.