Stena Bulk bids farewell to its last LNG tanker

Swedish tanker shipping company Stena Bulk has no more LNG carriers in its fleet after selling the remaining one to an undisclosed Asian buyer.

According to the company, the transfer has already taken place, and the LNG carrier, Stena Blue Sky, was delivered to Singapore on April 18. This comes on the heels of the recently announced sale of two LNG carriers to BW LNG when Stena’s CEO said that the company would continue to be pragmatic about Stena Blue Sky, and the opportunities that slightly rationalizing their fleet would bring.

The 2006-built Stena Blue Sky has a carrying capacity of 145,000cbm of LNG, and it was constructed at South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering shipyard, now known as Hanwha Ocean.

Erik Hånell, President & CEO of Stena Bulk, stated: “We are pleased with the successful sale of Stena Blue Sky. This sale aligns with our strategic vision as we explore new avenues of growth within our fleet. We look forward to new opportunities for the Stena Bulk fleet and for our company. As we navigate this transition, we remain steadfast in our commitment to optimizing our fleet, while simultaneously driving innovation and expansion.”

In line with its optimization efforts, Stena shared that it was exploring potential sale or co-investment options with several parties interested in its subsidiary Stena Power & LNG Solutions, which is currently working on developing regasification/import terminals for LNG, but also import and export terminals for ammonia and gas to power solutions in which LNG is distributed onshore.

The company is also looking into methanol’s role in making the shipping industry more sustainable. As part of a joint venture (JV) with Switzerland’s Proman, called Proman Stena Bulk, it has invested in six methanol dual-fuel MR tankers, all of which have been built at China’s Guangzhou Shipyard International. 

The JV recently witnessed a couple of major events. The first one involved Stena Provident completing the first methanol bunkering in the U.S. Port of Savannah while the second entailed launching what is said to be the ‘industry-first sustainable shipping fund,’ whose portfolio comprises four of the six Proman Stena Bulk tankers.