Cs-Development

Brokers report that the Hong Kong shipowning and leasing arm of China State Shipbuilding Co (CSSC) has snapped up the 18-year-old Cosmic Jewel VLCC from Eastern Pacific for $30m. CSSC has been in the market for a number of older VLCCs of later for oil storage purposes off Singapore. The sale of Cosmic Jewel leaves Eastern Pacific with just one VLCC left, the 15-year-old Maritime Jewel.

The "Cosmic Jewel" chartered by PetroChina has stopped discharging crude at northeast China's Dalian port hours before an explosion occurred on July 16, 2010. She was not discharging any cargo and had her manifold valves shut tight at the time of the reported fire incident. There has been no injury or pollution or damage related to the vessel, and the vessel currently waits at a safe anchorage off Dalian awaiting instructions. The vessel is still carrying 1 million barrels of Latin American crude, or half its original cargo. The vessel had discharged half of its load at Dalian port. As many as six VLCCs, or 12 million barrels of crude oil, are set to be diverted from the Dalian port after the explosion shut the terminal, they said.