Klaveness: CLEANBU vessel Barracuda makes 1st switch from dry cargo to jet fuel

Klaveness Combination Carriers’ (KCC) CLEANBU vessel MV Barracuda completed last week the first voyage carrying a part cargo of jet fuel to Korea after discharging its previous cargo of soya beans in China in early May.

 After discharging the soya bean cargo, the 83,600 dwt vessel went through a thorough cleaning, conversion and inspections prior to loading jet fuel in Japan.  

“This first successful switching from dry cargo to jet fuel, the CPP cargo with the strictest requirements in terms of tank cleanliness, demonstrates the CLEANBUs’ ability to safely and efficiently switch from dry cargo to the most demanding tanker cargo,” Klaveness said.

“This cargo switching is another example of the substantial value of our CLEANBU concept in terms of efficiency gains and carbon emissions reductions,” the company added.

 Prior to loading soya beans cargo in Brazil, MV Barracuda discharged a cargo of diesel in Argentina, cleaned and switched mode into dry bulk before loading soya beans.

The ship’s total ballast efforts from the discharge port in Argentina to loading port in Brazil were about 4 days, while the typical standard bulk carrier would sail empty from Asia, typical 30-40 days. This saves around 2,000 mts of CO2 for the cargo of soya beans.

The CLEANBUs are both full-fledged LR1 product tankers and Kamsarmax bulk carriers transporting clean petroleum products (CPP), heavy liquid cargoes as CSS as well as all types of dry bulk products. In the intended trading patterns, the CLEANBUs will have around 40 per cent lower CO2 emissions per ton mile transported cargo compared to standard product tankers and dry bulk vessels and meet IMO’s 2030 target of a 40 per cent reduction in carbon intensity when compared to standard vessels.

Q1 2020 performance

On 27 May, KCC released its results for the first quarter of this year showing that the company delivered net profit after tax of $4.3 million, compared to a loss of $0.8 million for the same period last year.

Net revenues from operations of vessels were $22.4 million in Q1 2020 compared to $13.3 million in the same quarter last year, primarily as a result of considerably higher average TCE earnings and in addition two more vessels in operation.

In the first quarter of 2020, CLEANBU TCE earnings were $20,932/d with solid TCE earnings of $24,000/d in combination trades. In addition, CABU TCE earnings stood at $20,283/d, representing the best quarterly earnings since 2015 with 92 per cent of the fleet capacity employed in combination trades.

Adjusted EBITDA amounted to $12.9 million, up from $5.3 million seen in Q1 2019.

“We are pleased to report KCC’s strongest financial results to date on the back of increased combination trading and a strong tanker market. We are also pleased to have concluded a higher tanker market coverage at attractive levels for the balance of 2020. This supports a strong outlook for KCC’s earnings for the 2020 and an increased financial robustness in the current uncertain COVID-19 situation,” Engebret Dahm, CEO Klaveness Combination Carriers ASA, commented.

KCC owns and operates nine CABU and three CLEANBU combination carriers with another five CLEANBU combination carriers on order for scheduled delivery in the period 2020 – 2021.