AET Names Dual-fuel VLCC Eagle Valence

Tanker operator AET announced it has named its new dual-fuel very large crude carrier (VLCC) Eagle Valence.

Named during a virtual ceremony at Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) in Geoje, South Korea, the 300,000 dwt newbuild is the first of two liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fuel VLCCs being built for long-term charter to Chartering and Shipping Services SA, a wholly owned subsidiary of TotalEnergies SA, based on an agreement signed in April 2020.

Eagle Valence’s sister vessel is currently under construction at SHI and is due to be delivered in the second quarter of this year.

Capt. Rajalingam Subramaniam, President & CEO of AET and COO of MISC Berhad said, “AET and TotalEnergies both have clear ambitions to decarbonize shipping and we pushed boundaries to move towards a lower carbon future when we collaborated to build two of the first dual-fuel VLCCs in 2020. I am very proud that we are now setting a new benchmark for the maritime industry with our state-of-the art Eagle Valence which is one of the first and amongst the most environmentally friendly VLCCs in the market.

“As an early pioneer in dual-fuel vessels, AET continues to invest in technology and team up with like-minded partners such as TotalEnergies who share our goal to create a truly sustainable global trade network. And we won’t stop there and are doing what we can to be impactful and reduce our and our customers’ carbon footprint to contribute to a sustainable future for our planet. I urge everyone in the industry to action cleaner and greener, collaborate and partner, act now and not later.”

Datuk Yee Yang Chien, President/Group CEO of MISC Berhad and Chairman of AET said, “Our investment in dual-fuel vessels illustrates our commitment as the MISC Group, and in this instance through AET, to invest in solutions that contribute to the decarbonization of the shipping sector over the long-term. We believe that LNG is the best fuel option available immediately for use whilst we continue our on-going efforts by leading, collaborating and contributing to other long-term initiatives which we hope will bring us closer to achieving a fully decarbonized sector.”

AET has 11 LNG dual-fuel vessels in its fleet portfolio with three Aframaxes in operations in the Atlantic, one Aframax operating in the Pacific and two Dynamic Positioning Shuttle Tankers (DPSTs) operating in North and Barents Seas now being joined by the first VLCC. Another four dual-fuel VLCCs are at newbuilding stage to be delivered in 2022 and 2023.

In addition to the naming of Eagle Valence, AET also took delivery of one more Suezmax Dynamic Positioning (DP2) Shuttle Tanker today, bringing the number of DP shuttle tankers it operates globally to 13.