Saudi oil tanker giant Bahri spends $1 billion to renew fleet

Saudi Arabia’s biggest oil shipping company bought nine supertankers from a Greek owner to help rejuvenate its fleet.

The transaction could temporarily catapult Bahri, as the National Shipping Co. of Saudi Arabia is known, to become the second-largest owner of so-called very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, according to data from Clarkson Research Services Ltd., a unit of the world’s largest ship broker. The plan is to phase out its older carriers over time, the company said in an online statement.

Bahri, mostly owned by Saudi entities and individuals, already owns 40 VLCCs, Clarkson’s data show. Many of them are used to deliver Saudi Arabian oil. The world’s No. 1 and No. 2 owners by number of in-service vessels are both Chinese.

Bahri expects the ships – which will make up more than a fifth of its fleet – to cut operating expenses. They’re more energy efficient and have scrubbers that allow them to burn fuels with higher sulfur content without boosting emissions of the pollutant.

Bahri agreed to pay Piraeus, Greece-based Capital Maritime and Trading Corp. 3.75 billion Riyals (about $1 billion). The vessels have an average age of 5.9 years, almost six years newer than Bahri’s existing fleet.

The ships will be delivered in multiple batches before the first quarter of next year. Bahri is paying 10% of the total transaction upon signing, and the remainder upon delivery of the vessels. 

The sale will leave Capital Maritime with only two VLCCs, excluding those under construction, according to a fleet listing on the Greek company’s website. Capital Maritime is led by shipowner Evangelos Marinakis.