Italian petroleum tanker specialist D'Amico International Shipping (DIS) on Friday announced the launch of two state-of-the-art, fuel-saving "eco" tankers for its fleet. The two tankers, built at Hyundai Vanashin Shipyard in Vietnam, have a special hull shape and propulsion efficiency that DIS said permits bunker fuel savings of six to seven tonnes per day compared to the global average among existing medium range tankers. The ships fall 31.5% below the energy efficiency reference line set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations specialized agency for the safety and security of shipping, and prevention of pollution. The ships also conform to future international environmental regulations due to come online a decade from now, with an Energy Design Index (EEDI) that falls well within IMO phase-in 3 requirements for vessels built after January 1, 2025.
"These vessels will allow significant bunker cost-savings and a considerable reduction of CO2 emissions," said Chief Executive Marco Fiori.
"We are actually seeing a constantly growing demand from oil-majors and leading market players for these types of ships," Fiori added.
Both ships have already been booked with long-term contracts with a global leader in the refinery sector at "extremely profitable daily rates", DIS said in a company statement.
The contracts are for two and three years, respectively. The vessels, the MT High Sun and MT High Fidelity, have a deadweight tonnage (dwt) - meaning the ship's maximum permissible weight summing cargo, fuel, ballast water, fresh water, provisions and crew - of 50,000 tonnes.
One has been delivered to Eco Tankers Ltd., a Malta-based company in which DIS holds a 33% share, and the other is due to be delivered in the third quarter to the Irish DIS subsidiary D'Amico Tankers Limited.
D'Amico Tankers Limited has a fleet of 38.8 double-hull tankers, between owned and chartered vessels, with an average age of 5.8 years.
D'Amico Tankers has shipbuilding contracts for a total of 11 new "Eco design" tankers.
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