One of the first vessels to be placed within the new Straits Tankers Pte Ltd joint venture pool formed by Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and Hafnia Management A⁄S is the 228m by 32m Panamanian-registered product tanker Kamome Victoria, which was completed last year by Minaminippon Shipbuilding Co Ltd at Oozai, Japan. The 74,908dwt ship, considered a Long Range One (LR1) product tanker, is currently serving under a charter contract with Morgan Stanley.
Straits Tankers eventually plans to operate 25 LR1s, all with coated cargo tanks, which will be managed out of offices in Singapore and Copenhagen. Besides MOL, Swedish shipowners Marinvest and Gotlandsbolaget will place ships in the pool, as will Danish shipowner Nordic Tankers and Dubai-based United Arab Chemical Carriers.
