Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K Lines has joined forces with an unnamed investor to acquire a stake in Reliance Industries’ six very large ethane carriers (VLEC).
Under the deal, the parties would buy the stake in six special purpose limited liability companies (LLCs), which own the vessels, from Reliance Industries’ Reliance Ethane Holding.
Once the transaction is finalized, MOL and Reliance Ethane Holding would jointly control the VLEC-owning companies. MOL is currently the operator of all the six VLECs.
“This investment would enable MOL to add six unique VLECs, which we have been operating for some time now, as owners to its existing fleet of over 850 vessels which include LNG carrier, other tankers, dry bulkers, car carriers, ferries and coastal RoRo ships and cruise ships,” Takeshi Hashimoto, Member of the Board, Executive Vice President, MOL said.
Hashimoto added that MOL has detailed knowledge about these assets having supervised the construction and delivery of the VLECs and subsequently operating them since their delivery.
The six VLECs were delivered in 2016-2017 and have been engaged for transportation of liquefied ethane from Houston, US to Reliance facilities at Dahej in West coast of India.