Chemical tanker demand is likely to rise by 5% this year and by 6% in 2013, a leading operator said. Tommy Thomsen – CEO of chemical and product tanker owner and operator Nordic Tankers – told Tanker Operator that chemical tanker demand was linked to GDP.
Newbuilding orders were running at only 10% of the total fleet and as a result, the world fleet’s net tonnage was only likely to grow by under 3% during 2012-2013. He also thought that the supply/demand balance could improve significantly in 2014-2015.
Another plus point for the world fleet was that limited funding was available from traditional sources for future newbuildings.
He said that the barriers to entry into the chemical carrier market had also become higher.
Turning to the recent announcement of the proposed purchase of the Nordic Tankers chemical carrier fleet by European investment concern Triton for $30 mill, he said that this move should be approved at the forthcoming AGM to be held on 20th April.
Once agreed by the shareholders, this deal would lift Nordic Tankers to the number one position in the global regional operator league in the chemical tanker segment, as the newly formed company would have 126 vessels.
Triton already owns Herning, which controls 37 coated chemical tankers in the 3,000 dwt to 12,000 dwt range, which would be combined with the Nordic Tankers chemical fleet, once the deal was approved. The Nordic Tankers brand will be kept with Thomsen remaining as CEO.
This would leave the listed side of Nordic Tankers with a fleet of six product tankers of between 37,000 dwt to 73,000 dwt.
A moratorium on deferred and ordinary instalments payable until 31 March 2013 has been agreed for the product tanker fleet subject to certain conditions.
The listed company will change its name from Nordic Tankers to Nordic Shipholding.
Meanwhile at this week’s AGM, Nordic Tankers board will propose the election of five members - Knud Pontoppidan, Erik Bartnes, Mogens Buschard, Henrik Lund Dal and Saravana Sivasankaran.
However, Dal subsequently informed the board that he will leave at the AGM and thus did not seek re-election. Instead, the board proposed the election of former Maersk Tankers man Kristian Mørch.