Overseas Shipholding to buy tanker and retrofit it to be methanol-ready

US-based tanker operator Overseas Shipholding (OSG) has inked a deal with BP Oil Shipping to buy a tanker which will be retrofitted to be methanol-ready.

PHOTO: Getty Images

Methanol-ready means that the vessel will likely run on conventional fuel from when it is delivered, until it is converted to be able to consume alternative marine fuel. Methanol-ready vessels are generally designed in a way that prepares them for future retrofits.

Upon completion of the transaction, OSG intends to reactivate the tanker, Alaskan Frontier, that has been in cold layup in Malaysia since 2019. During cold lay-up, the engines are taken out of service, and the ship is kept "electrically dead" except for the emergency power supply.

OSG will make significant investments to upgrade the ship and make it ready for commercial deployment by the fourth quarter of 2024.

The engine upgrades will be carried out by German engineering firm MAN Energy Solutions.

"This comprehensive modernization of each of the four engines onboard will improve performance and fuel efficiency and also prepare the engines for possible methanol fuel in the future,” OSG says.

It is expected to “result in 15-20% fuel savings as compared to the vessel’s current consumption, leading to a meaningful reduction in carbon output,” OSG claims.

The 2004-built vessel is a sister vessel to three other Alaskan Class tankers operated by OSG’s wholly owned subsidiary, Alaskan Tanker Company. Alaska Class tanker is a category of very large crude carrier (VLCC) that has a double hull.

By Tuhin Roy

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