Japan’s shipping major Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) through its subsidiary, SeaLoading Holding, which owns and operates cargo transfer vessels (CTVs), has signed a charter contract for the CTV SeaLoader 2 with Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras), a Brazilian state-owned oil company.
The two companies have also decided to enter into negotiations for a new CTV shipbuilding contract by the end of 2024.
SeaLoading started a CTV agreement with Petrobras for SeaLoader 2 on a trial period in January 2022, and successfully completed more than 30 crude oil offloading operations from Petrobras’ FPSOs located in the Santos Basin, Brazil, transferring the cargo to tankers. The trials involved vessels up to VLCC size.
After the conclusion of the trial agreement, the vessel was placed on a time charter contract in 2023 with Petrobras.
Now SeaLoading has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Petrobras to start the negotiations for a newbuilding CTV by the end of 2024.
As MOL explains, in the case of CTV, the crude oil can be directly loaded from the FPSO to the crude oil tanker by connecting a CTV between an FPSO and the crude oil tanker, and this dramatically increases the efficiency of crude oil logistics.
As it is furthermore said by the company, CTVs are expected to achieve a 60% reduction in CO2 emissions off the Brazilian coast compared to using a DP shuttle tanker for offloading in the Santos basin, Brazil and about 80% when it is used off the coast of Uruguay.
Currently, there are only 2 two CTVs in the world, all owned by SeaLoading, which holds the patent for the CTV technology.
Source: MOL
