Odfjell SE Annual Report 2012

chemical tankers
CHARTERING AND OPERATION
The Odfjell fleet consists of almost 100 vessels; owned,
time chartered, commercially managed vessels and
vessels managed on a pool-basis. The deep-sea fleet,
currently comprising 70 vessels, is operated by Odfjell
Tankers AS, a wholly owned company of Odfjell SE. Odfjell
Tankers, headquartered in Bergen, is represented through
overseas offices in 16 countries. Many offices serve dual
purposes, with commercial, chartering, operational as
well as agency duties. Many of the overseas offices are
also co-located and enjoy close cooperation with our
local terminals.
The fleet consists of a variety of ship types in terms of
size, tank configuration and coating, all of which provide
the flexibility required by customers. Fleet-composition,
scheduling and vessel optimization are critical success
factors. Flexibility and interchangeability of ships between
geographical areas and trade lanes are an integral part of
our business model, facilitated by our large and diversified
fleet.
Odfjell Tankers’ ships trade worldwide, calling major ports
in Europe, the US, Asia/Pacific, Africa, the Middle East
and South America. Our 14 state-of-the-art 37,500 DWT
Kværner built stainless steel chemical tankers, and our
eight fully stainless steel 40,000 DWT chemical tankers
built in Poland, are among the most advanced and flexible
ships in the market, and play a vital part in the Company’s
focus on safety, efficiency and service. Furthermore, we
have added capacity and flexibility through long-term time
charters of Japanese-built 19,900 DWT and 30–33,000 DWT
stainless steel vessels.
Although still in good, technical condition, most of our
older ships are disadvantaged and less in demand from our
customers due to age. Consequently, Odfjell has disposed
of all but one of their coated vintage 1980’s built ships. A
replacement programme is in place, with ordering of four
46,000 DWT coated vessels from Hyundai Mipo Dockyard,
Ltd in South Korea. Additional capacity is constantly evaluated,
including longer-term time chartering of modern
coated tonnage. Odfjell and NCC will take delivery of their
two 75,000 DWT coated vessels from Daewoo Shipbuilding
this year, the first one in May.
Odfjell has been promoting high safety and enhanced
efficiency standards on chemical tankers since the inception
of the industry and thus takes a proactive approach towards
international regulatory bodies and major customers in
order to enhance safety. In this context, Odfjell continues
to address key issues, such as the practice of tank-inerting,
and stresses the importance of implementing a more
cost efficient and transparent regime of customers’ ship
inspection and vetting programmes.
While an increased naval escort presence and the introduction
of armed guards have improved security against piracy
attacks in the Gulf of Aden, ships continue to be attacked
and hijacked. Odfjell Tankers is monitoring the situation
closely, and we take all necessary precautions to minimize
risks. Safety of crew, ship and cargo is the first priority.
Port congestion and excessive waiting time remain a
concern for the chemical tanker industry, and port time
still takes up a disproportionate part of many voyages.
Owners are only partly able to be compensated for such
inefficiency through collection of demurrage. To improve
inefficiency in ports, thereby also minimizing unnecessary
emissions from ships, it is a prerequisite that infrastructure
onshore must be further developed.
Through regional operations, Odfjell Tankers provides
customers with timely, quality and safe transhipment
services to ports with restricted draft or dock facilities.
Consolidation of loading and discharging operations of our
deep-sea ships is yet another important task performed
by our regional operations. By reducing the number of
ports and thus the risk of delay, Odfjell Tankers is able to
offer a reliable and economical service to its customers.
Odfjell (UK)
Odfjell’s UK office has commercial and operational responsibility
for three 40,000 DWT vessels.
Odfjell Asia
The fleet operated out of our Singapore office is traded
within Asia, to and from Australia/New Zealand as well as
to and from Middle East/India. All of the 13 ships currently
operated out of Singapore are fully stainless steel.
Crystal pool
Through a joint venture with Euroceanica, Crystal Pool offers
regular sailings within Europe, including the Baltic and
the Mediterranean, and to West Africa. Of the 11 vessels
currently in the fleet, four are fully owned by Odfjell.
NCC Odfjell Chemical tankers (NOCT)
NOCT is a 50/50 joint venture between National Chemical
Carriers (NCC) and Odfjell, and operates 17 deep-sea
coated vessels of which four are owned/controlled by Odfjell.
The two partners have ordered two 75,000 DWT vessels for
delivery in 2013 from Daewoo Shipbuilding.
Flumar
Flumar, our fully owned Brazilian shipping subsidiary
86
odfjell annual report 2012