Norway-based shipping company Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers AS (KNOT) has concluded a time charter contract with French energy giant Total for a shuttle tanker newbuilding.
The time charter has been signed for a maximum 15-year period starting from 2021.
As informed, the contract aims to use a 152,000 dwt Suezmax tanker equipped with a dynamic-positioning system built by China’s COSCO (Zhoushan) Shipyard to shuttle crude oil produced in waters off Brazil.
With this newbuild, the KNOT Group will have 32 shuttle tankers in operation or on order, Japanese shipping company NYK said.
KNOT is a joint venture of NYK and TS Shipping Invest AS (TSSI), a parent company of the Knutsen Group. KNOT was established in 2010 following NYK’s acquisition of 50 percent of the shuttle tanker fleet.
The KNOT Group has a share of about 40 percent of the world shuttle tanker market — not including the number of vessels on order and shuttle tankers in Russia.