Nakilat Adds Tankers to Fleet

Qatari fleet owner Nakilat has added four vessels now being built in South Korea, by establishing a 60/40 joint venture Global Shipping Co with Maran Ventures, it said March 27.

Nakilat will have a 60% stake in the JV while Maran Ventures will hold the remaining 40%. With four vessels under the new JV, Nakilat will have 74 in total, or about 11.5% of the global LNG fleet in carrying capacity, it said.

Nakilat CEO Abdullah Al Sulaiti said the acquisition not only "affirms our global leadership in energy transportation but also bears testament to our vessel management and marketing capabilities with the world’s largest LNG fleet. Nakilat’s steady growth highlights our robust financial performance and strategic planning, which comes as part of our efforts to maximise returns for our shareholders and support Qatar’s industry leading position as the world’s top LNG exporter."

The vessels each have a cargo carrying capacity of 173,400 m³ and are equipped with "some of the most advanced technology in the market today, with two of them being equipped with ME-GI while the other two with X-DF technology.” 

Maran Ventures CEO John Angelicoussis said: “Nakilat has been one of our strategic partners for many years and we are pleased to be strengthening our relationship with them. Through this new venture, I am confident that we will continue to provide first-class services together for all our LNG customers around the world and look forward to further collaborations in the future.”

Nakilat also owns the giant Q-Flex and Q-Max tankers which are able to carry 217,000 m³ and 266,000 m³ respectively, built to service the giant 7.8mn mt/yr liquefaction trains at Qatar. But the 174,000 m³ has become the industry standard for practical purposes, such as Panama Canal navigation, improving on the earlier 150,000 m³ vessel.