End of an era as Neste exits shipping

Neste Oil has sold its remaining five tankers and three tugs and chartered the ships back on long-term contracts alongside other chartered-in tonnage, comprising mostly Swedish and Norwegian product tankers.

A new company, Navidom Oy – jointly owned by Neste Oil, the National Emergency Supply Agency, and Ilmarinen – has been set up to manage and administer the vessels. Neste Oil plans to sell the Tempera, Purha, Jurmo, and Stena Arctica at a later date. It has already sold their high ice class panamaxes Palva and Stena Poseidon, which are shuttling shale oil from Montreal to Quebec terminals for export.

For many years Neste had sought to merge its fleet with a major international operator, but the requirements set by Finland’s national emergency supply agency proved a major barrier. Ultimately the state, which held the majority share in Neste, decided to step in and buy the fleet jointly with pension insurance company Ilmarinen.

Crewing and technical management will be handled by OSM Finland Oy, a subsidiary of Norway’s OSM. The Finnish office opened in July.

Mikko Niini has been invited by the government to become chairman of Navidom, Capt. Paavo Kojonen managing director and Sami Niemelä operations/technical director.

One of his first responsibilities is likely to be sourcing suitable replacements for the world’s first double acting tankers Tempera and Mastera, which will be 15 years of age in 2017. Double acting tankers are designed to travel ahead in open water and astern in severe ice conditions and have been used mainly to transport crude oil, year-round, from the Russian oil terminal in Primorsk to Neste Oil refineries in Porvoo and Naantali. TST