TFG to lease 4 new methanol carriage-ready tankers

Singapore-based marine fuel supplier TFG Marine signed a long-term charter deal with Singapore-based marine fuel supplier Consort Bunkers for four newbuild methanol carriage-ready bunker tankers.

The 6,500t deadweight tankers will be able to carry high-sulphur fuel oil, very low-sulphur fuel oil, marine gasoil and biodiesel up to B100. As methanol carriage-ready vessels, TFG can easily retrofit them to also carry methanol in the future. The vessels are classified as IMO type 2 chemical tankers.

The tankers are under construction in Merchants Jinling shipyard in Nanjing, China, and will be delivered starting the end of this year through 2025. They will be operated by Consort for TFG.

In 2023, the Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) ranked TFG as the second biggest marine fuel supplier by volume of fuel supplied and Consort Bunkers the 23rd biggest, out of 42 registered suppliers. The ranking includes conventional bunkers and biofuels. Separately, MPA ranked TFG as the eighth biggest biofuel-for-bunkering supplier in Singapore, out of 14 biofuel suppliers there. For the month of May, MPA reported 1,626t of methanol-for-bunkering sales in Singapore. Prior to that there were no methanol bunker sales until July 2023 — 300t. By comparison, biodiesel bunker blend sales rose by 49pc to 288,269t in the first half of 2024, from 193,800t during the same period last year.

TFG Marine is a joined venture by Trafigura, Frontline and Golden Ocean.

By Stefka Wechsler