Chembulk and BLT begin COA

Berlian Laju Tanker (BLT) and Connecticut subsidiary Chembulk have just begun a contract of affreightment (COA) with Petrobras to move ethanol cargoes on a route previously dominated by two competitors.

A market source says the chemical-tanker players will carry between 80,000 and 300,000 tonnes over a year from Brazil to the Far East. The deal, estimated to be worth about $12m to $18m per year, includes an option for a one-year extension.

Broker Gustavo Sa, whose Brazilian brokerage Tide Maritime Afretamentos was involved in garnering the COA, confirms the deal but declines to give details. Chembulk also declines to comment.

Although Indonesia-based BLT has carried cargoes on the route before, Petrobras's chemical exports to the Far East have traditionally been dominated by Stolt-Nielsen and Odfjell, a market source in Brazil says.

The Norwegian owners and Connecticut's Fairfield Chemical Carriers are all understood to have bid for the latest Petrobras COA on the route.

Twenty-seven BLT and Chembulk vessels that may be nominated to carry cargoes on the route are fully stainless steel and have an average age of 4.5 years, the source adds.

Source: Trade Winds –