Stormy Seas

Severe storms battered Britain in January, with winds blowing at over 100mph. The UK, Scotland in particular, struggled with port closures, power failures, floods and wind damage to buildings and infrastructure. The Sea Tankers vessels, the Clipper Burgundy and the Vedrey Hallarna, were sailing in the Firth of Forth and the Humber estuary during the worst of the stormy weather, and staying on schedule was a major challenge.

To read the full story click here.

Thames Future Looks Bright

Opening a fuel storage facility on the River Thames has secured our place in the heart of what promises to be a thriving centre for commercial shipping activity in the future. London Gateway is to be the first new deep-sea port to open in the UK for over 20 years – it will be fully integrated with Europe’s largest logistics park, offering units of up to one million square feet.

To read the full story click here.

Do you find shipping industry babble baffling?

Our jargon buster reveals what some of the more peculiar seafarers’ sayings actually mean.

Read all of them here....

ConocoPhillips Contracts Renewed

Sea Tankers Ltd is pleased to have renewed two of its shipping contracts with ConocoPhillips Ltd. Sea Tankers will continue to transport refined products from their oil refinery at Immingham to the storage facilities at Dagenham on the Thames, and Scapa Flow located within the Orkney Islands off Scotland.

The contract renewals demonstrate once again that Sea Tankers can successfully achieve contracts of affreightment from an oil major. Lorna Wilson, Sea Tankers’ Commercial Manager, said: “We are delighted to have the ongoing support of the oil majors – the renewal of the ConocoPhillips shipping contracts is great news for Sea Tankers and for the Geos Group as a whole”

Clipper Burgundy Renewed

Sea Tankers Ltd are excited to announce the renewal of the time charter on the Clipper Burgundy. This dependable vessel will continue to move cargo to Aberdeen and Peterhead on behalf of its sister company, Sea Bunkering Ltd, as well as its ongoing third party business. The success of this contract has been thanks to good teamwork and professionalism on all sides: The Nordic Tankers technical and operational departments are consistently attentive to the business needs of Sea Tankers, and resident captains Bernie Marks and John Carling – along with the rest of their crew on board – work extremely hard and are highly valued members of the team. The Clipper Burgundy suits the Sea Tankers business very well because of its good pumping rate, its consistent capacity (one DWT all year round) and its all-round good performance.

Drop the Pilot

Clipper Burgundy masters John Carling and Bernie Marks are working to obtain their Pilot Exemption Certificates (PEC) for navigation in the Humber estuary. When they become PEC holders John and Bernie will no longer need to employ a pilot when making trips in and out of the port – saving them time and hassle. As Immingham is our main load port, there will be significant benefits all round.

The process of becoming eligible for a PEC is fairly long-winded: “It is time consuming but I enjoy the challenge and it keeps the brain working!” says John, who hopes to have his PEC by early next year.

Read on to find out what is involved...

Richard joins the team

Sea Tankers is delighted to welcome Richard Dowding onto the team. Richard has joined in an operations role and is based at our Henley Office.

Having grown up in Buckinghamshire, Richard began his career as a Royal Navy Stores Accountant. Managing equipment supplies for naval vessels and shore bases in the UK and abroad, Richard was able to travel the world at the same time as gaining experience in stock management, import/export and quality control.

Back on dry land, Richard went on to work in a number of operational, shipping and logistics roles before joining Sea Tankers in the summer of this year. Richard is the company’s leading authority on football – a sport that he enjoys watching and playing when not being kept busy by his two-year old son.

Looking Ahead

Brokers are reporting that the CPP market has been depressed for a while and will probably remain so for the foreseeable future. The recent positive upturn in the chemical and biodiesel market has everybody wondering whether this is merely a blip, or an early sign of sustained growth?

Recent economic data suggests that Britain’s economy is in a worse state than originally thought, and this is making us all feel doubtful of a significant recovery within the shipping sector any time soon. As we watch with bated breath, there does however seem to be some activity

To read the full story click here.

From Bora to Burgundy

After three years of successful charter, we have said goodbye to the Brovig Bora and are now chartering a new vessel, the Clipper Burgundy.

She is a 3,500 dwt B-class chemical tanker, named after one of the best known wine regions in France – ironic really, given our industry’s strict ‘no alcohol on board’ policy! We have the Burgundy on time charter from Nordic Tankers, who recently took over the Clipper Group’s commercial tanker division.

We took great care when sourcing this vessel – she is fully major-approved and meets all industry safety and technical standards.

To read the full story click here.

Biodiesel is on the up

With the ever-growing concern for the planets resources, renewable energy sources are becoming more and more important to the developing world. Biodiesel is gaining acceptance and popularity in the shipping world but how sustainable is it and are there any alternatives?

To read the full story click here.

Focus on …. Scrabster

The most northerly port on the British mainland has had a chequered and interesting history dating back to Viking days. With Sea Tankers' Vedrey Hallarna now a regular visitor we have had a closer look at this port and it’s plans for the future.

To read the full story click here.

Tackling Decline

Recently there has been a big decline of UK ship owners operating within the coastal tanker trade. It has become visible and apparent to the majority of oil majors and traders that the future of coastal shipping cannot be dominated and monopolised by a limited number of companies.

Sea Tankers was established to address this by providing a viable alternative and has been welcomed as a vessel operator in the industry.

We have moved! From the 10th May 2010 our new address will be:

Chiltern House
45 Station Road
Henley on Thames
Oxfordshire
RG9 1AT UK

Our telephone number is also changing to: +44 (0)1491 845475