Maersk Tankers Christens Two Medium Range Newbuilds in South Korea

File photo: Maersk Group/Flickr

Maersk Tankers on Friday christened two more medium range newbuilds at the Sungdong Shipyard in Tongyong, South Korea as part of the company’s fleet renewal program.

Both vessels, Maersk Teesport and Maersk Tianjing, are 50,000 DWT Medium Range (MR) and join their sister ship Maersk Tangier, which was delivered in February.

In 2015 Maersk Tankers took delivery of the first two of a total 10 vessels ordered from the Sungdong Shipyard; Maersk Tampa and Maersk Tacoma. The company says that within the next few years approximately 20% of Maersk Tankers fleet will be replaced with newbuilds already ordered. In addition to the 10 vessels from Sungdong, Maersk Tankers has 9 additional MR vessels on order from Ningbo Shipyard in China. The vessels from Ningbo are expected to be delivered in 2017 and 2018.

“It is always a great pleasure to name a new vessel and we are pleased to be able to add more fuel-efficient vessels to our fleet,” says Claus Grønborg, Head of Business Development.

“As part of our Taking Lead Strategy, we have increased our investment in the product tanker business in order to strengthen our fleet. Besides the newbuild order book we have also replaced some of our older vessels with second-hand vessels. We will continue our renewal of the fleet, when we believe that the pricing is at an attractive level again. At the time being the level is too high,” added Claus Grønborg.

Maersk Tankers owns and operates a large fleet of 156 vessels, including 82 owned, 24 time-chartered and 50 vessels in pools.

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