MOL and Hafnia to jointly operate new LR1 pool
On May 1st, Straits Tankers – a strategic joint venture set up in Singapore by Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and Hafnia Management, will be ready to market 25 coated LR1’s, entered into the Straits Tankers LR1 Pool. The goal is to further utilise the fleet to flexibly meet the diversifying needs of customers who will be serviced from the Straits Tankers offices in Singapore and Copenhagen in Denmark. The Pool consists of LR1 product tankers from Japanese shipowner MOL, Swedish shipowners Marinvest and Gotlandsbolaget and Danish shipowner Nordic Tankers. United Arab Chemical Carriers (UACC) in Dubai has also agreed to participate. According to Hafnia Management chairman Lars Mossberg, the continued economic challenges in the tankers markets makes the consolidation of fleets the natural way forward in order to jointly meet increased demand in terms of scope of services whilst optimising the operation through economy of scale. The executive management of the joint venture will be Soren Steenberg Jensen as CEO, and Kazuhiro Takahashi as COO, both of whom are highly experienced in the global LR1 sector. MOL operates more than 850 ships and offers global liner and logistics services, including weekly transpacific, transatlantic, Americas and Asia-Europe services. Hafnia Management was established less than a year ago by shipowners and is run by senior staff with extensive knowledge within the product tanker market and shipping pools. Hafnia focuses on commercial management of clean petroleum product pools. Quelle: eyefortransport |