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Displaying items by tag: Chemical Products Tankers

Cork-based specialist tanker company Ardmore Shipping is to increase its existing fleet over the next two years, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The company has announced that it has taken over the contracts for two newbuild vessels from Hellespont Group and in a separate deal, has agreed to charter another two vessels from Hellespont.

The newbuilds contracts are for a pair of 17,000 deadweight tonnes (dwt) chemical tankers which will be IMO II classified. The 144m twins have a beam of over 22m and a draft of 9m and they will be around 9,000 gross tonnes.

Both the newbuilds were ordered from the Hamburg-based Hellespont in 2009 and are the last in a series of eight tankers being built by the Sekwang Shipbuilding facility in South Korea. The newbuilds are expected to be delivered in April and July 2012.

In the second separate deal Ardmore Shipping has agreed to charter the Hellespont Commander and Hellespont Crusader (photo) which are also 17,000 dwt IMO II chemical tankers for a one year period with an option to extend the charter for a further year. The 2010 built vessels will enter the Navig8 Brizo-8 chemical tanker pool for trade and commodity chemicals.

Anthony Gurnee, CEO of Ardmore Shipping Ltd, commented: "We are very pleased to have taken on the contracts with Sekwang Shipbuilding for these two newbuild vessels, which will join our fleet next year, and with our charter agreement for the Hellespont Commander and the Hellespont Crusader."

The chartered vessels join the Ardmore Shipping which brings the fleet to six ships which include: Ardmore Centurion, Ardmore Seatrader, Ardmore Seamaster and Ardmore Seafarer.

When the two newbuild vessels enter service in 2012, Ardmore Shipping will still be in expansive mode as they have ordered two 51,000 dwt double hull IMO III chemical/product tankers for delivery in 2012 and 2013.

Published in Ports & Shipping

About Match Racing

A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head.

In yacht racing, it is differentiated from a fleet race, which almost always involves three or more competitors competing against each other, and team racing where teams consisting of 2, 3 or 4 boats compete together in a team race, with their results being combined.

A match race consists of two identical boats racing against each other. With effective boat handling and clever use of wind and currents, a trailing boat can escape the grasp of the leader and pass. The leader uses blocking techniques to hold the other boat back. This one-on-one duel is a game of strategy and tactics.

About the World Match Racing Tour

Founded in 2000, the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) promotes the sport of match racing around the world and is the longest running global professional series in the sport of sailing. The WMRT is awarded ‘Special Event’ status by the sport’s world governing body – World Sailing – and the winner of the WMRT each year is crowned World Sailing Match Racing World Champion. Previous champions include Sir Ben Ainslie (GBR), Taylor Canfield (USA), Peter Gilmour (AUS), Magnus Holmberg (SWE), Peter Holmberg (ISV), Adam Minoprio (NZL), Torvar Mirsky (AUS), Bertrand Pace (FRA), Jesper Radich (DEN), Phil Robertson (NZL) and Ian Williams (GBR). Since 2000, the World Match Racing Tour and its events have awarded over USD23million in prize money to sailors which has helped to contribute to the career pathway of many of today’s professional sailors