Teekay Tankers Completes Suezmax Expansion

Photo: Teekay Tankers

Teekay Tankers says delivery has been completed for all 12 suezmax crude oil tankers from its acquisition of Principal Maritime’s fleet announced in August.

The acquisition totaled $662 million and increases Teekay Tankers’ suezmax fleet from 10 to 22 vessels, making Teekay Tankers the largest owner and operator of mid-size crude oil tankers. Teekay says the addition of the 12 ships increases the value its fleet to $1.7 billion and reduces its average age by 1.2 years.

The final suezmax vessel included in the aqcuisition, Sydney Spirit, was delivered October 15, 2015, with the last of the vessels now going through dry docking. All 12 are expected to operate in the spot tanker market in the near future.

The Suezmax vessels joining the fleet are the following: London Spirit, Atlanta Spirit, Moscow Spirit, Athens Spirit, Los Angeles Spirit, Barcelona Spirit, Beijing Spirit, Seoul Spirit, Rio Spirit, Tokyo Spirit, Montreal Spirit and Sydney Spirit.

While the deliveries were a success, the expansion did get off to a bit of a rocky start when earlier this month one of the vessels, Tokyo Spirit (ex-Princimar Loyalty), ran aground in stormy weather just outside a marina near Lisbon, Portugal, presumably as the vessel awaited its scheduled dry docking. The ship was pulled free the following day with no harm to the environment and minimal damage to the ship. We were told in fact that local authorities had praised the owner for the swift response and successful conclusion to the incident.

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