Team Tankers International has moved the commercial management of most of its fleet to Maersk Tankers and at the same time has formed a joint venture with V.Group to take over the technical management of its vessels
Bermuda-registered, Oslo stock exchange-listed chemical carrier and product tanker operator Team Tankers International has undertaken a radical restructuring of its operations department.
Maersk Tankers will take over the commercial management of 27 tankers from Team Tankers and establish two new pools.
Team Tankers commented that the move will allow it to have access to Maersk Tankers’ digital approach to commercial management, with its strong emphasis on reducing CO2 emissions and improving partner returns. For Maersk Tankers, the agreement will increase its fleet under management to more than 225 vessels across a range of different segments, while cementing its position as one of the market leaders in the medium-range (MR) segment, where it manages a pool jointly with Cargill.
As part of the agreement, employees within the operations, chartering and bunker management teams will transfer from Team Tankers International to Maersk Tankers’ offices in Copenhagen, Houston and Singapore.
“The co-operation is a further step towards building scale for our tanker fleet,” said Team Tankers International’s president and chief executive officer Hans Feringa, “We believe the timing of the co-operation is good as the medium- and longer-term outlook for the product and chemical tanker market is positive, and the orderbook is at a historically low level,” said Mr Feringa. “We look forward to working with Maersk Tankers to achieve both companies’ goals.”
Out of the 27 tankers, nine are 13,000 dwt, four are Flexis (25,000 dwt) and 14 are MR tankers between 46-49,000 dwt. By taking over the vessels, Maersk Tankers enters two new segments, in which it establishes two new pools. According to Maersk Tankers, this allows the company to serve customers with greater flexibility, while expanding its products to pool partners.
“The co-operation between Team Tankers International and Maersk Tankers is powerful, and we look forward to welcoming our new colleagues. With this, we are taking yet another step to deliver our strategy of building scale through partnerships forged by the common goal of using digitalisation to reduce CO2 emissions and increase partner returns. The growth in capacity means we can offer our customers additional flexibility in transporting their cargoes and improve our returns to existing and new pool partners,” said Maersk Tankers’ chief investment officer Claus Gronborg.
The transfer is due to commence on 1 April 2020, which is the same date Team Tankers transfers technical teams to a new joint venture with V.Group. Team Tankers will own 30% and V.Group 70% of the joint venture, Dania Ship Management AS Denmark, which will continue to be based in Copenhagen, although additional parties may join in the future. The joint venture will benefit both parties by bringing together the valuable technical and crewing organisation from Team Tankers together with V.Group’s global reach and expertise.
The collaboration will give Team Tankers access to the ShipSure IT system developed by V.Group that will enhance safety and efficiency, and the joint venture will also provide procurement advantages to Team Tankers from the scale of V.Group.
Team Tankers will transfer its inhouse managed fleet, consisting of 10 MRs tankers and two 25,000 dwt coated tankers, to Dania Ship Management, along with its onshore technical organisation and seafaring expertise. Team Tankers already has 21 ships with V.Group for technical management.
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