Four shipping companies from Sweden, Norway, and Canada see a bright future in the European intermediate tanker market and are ordering four new VINGA ships — taking the series, developed by Furetank, to a remarkable 26 vessels.
The new investment was announced on Friday in conjunction with the naming ceremony for FURE VASA, a newly built VINGA vessel that has just arrived in Europe from the shipyard in China.
Two of the vessels will be owned by FureBear, a joint venture between Canadian Algoma Central Corporation and Swedish Furetank, the shipping company that developed the VINGA series together with FKAB Marine Design.
One vessel will go to Norwegian shipping company O.H. Meling — marking their first VINGA investment — and one to Swedish Älvtank, already the owner of three VINGA vessels and part of the very first order, delivered in 2018.
The ships will be constructed at the China Merchants Shipbuilding Industry Yangzhou Dingheng Shipyard, with delivery expected between 2028 and 2029. They will be entered into the Gothia Tanker Alliance and managed commercially by Furetank Chartering.
All four vessels are to be registered under the Swedish flag, meaning the VINGA series will account for almost a fifth of the Swedish merchant fleet, which currently stands at just over 105 vessels.
The VINGA ships are ice class 1A, 17,999 DWT product tankers designed by Furetank together with FKAB Marine Design. They all have dual-fuel capability, run on LBM (liquid biomethane) / LNG or gasoil and are fully equipped for shore power. They are designed with a battery hybrid solution and several innovative features that reduce fuel and energy consumption, resulting in extensively lowered emissions of CO2, sulphur oxide, nitrogen oxide and hazardous particles. The ships have scored the best Energy Efficiency Design Index or EEDI value in their segment globally, meaning that they are the most energy efficient vessels according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
“The agreement we are signing today shows how future-proof the VINGA vessels have been from the outset. Our three sister vessels have performed exceptionally well, and being part of a long-running series of identical vessels brings many advantages. The ships have set a standard in the market and are well-known to many parties — from the pilots who guide them into port and the charterers who place their cargoes, to the customers who know we can always source a replacement vessel if needed,” said Christian Nilsson, CEO of Älvtank.
“We are renewing our fleet, as our two current intermediate tankers soon will pass the 20-year age limit for trading in the European tanker market. The VINGA vessels have proven themselves in the market over many years — technically robust, efficient and consistently in demand. We have strong faith in good vessels, good management and a solid collaboration between our companies. The conditions for this investment could not be better,” said Olav H. Meling, CEO of O.H. Meling.