New Shuttle Tanker Christened Raquel Knutsen
November 14, 2014
On November 12, Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers AS (KNOT; headquarters: Haugesund, Norway), of which NYK has a 50% share, held a naming ceremony for a new shuttle tanker* that is being built at Cosco Zhoushan Shipyard. The ship was christened Raquel Knutsen. The ceremony was attended by KNOT president Trygve Seglem, NYK senior managing corporate officer Hitoshi Nagasawa, and NYK corporate officer Svein Steimler.
Raquel Knutsen will be delivered to Repsol Sinopec Brasil S.A. (headquarters: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)and will be chartered for a maximum 15-year period for transportation of crude oil located off Brazil.
The ship is a 152,000 DWT Suezmax shuttle tanker equipped with a class 2 dynamic positioning system** and a bow-loading system.***
After this delivery, the KNOT Group will have 29 shuttle tankers in operation and on order, and the group’s offshore business will resultantly expand with a focus on crude-oil transport from the North Sea and the waters off Brazil.
In accordance with its “More Than Shipping 2018” medium-term management plan, NYK will continue its efforts to provide stable and economical energy-transport services in both the shuttle tanker and offshore business fields.
Front row, eighth from left, KNOT president Trygve Seglem,
Front row, fifth from right, KNOT executive vice president Fumitake Shishido,
Front row, sixth from right, NYK senior managing corporate officer Hitoshi Nagasawa,
Front row, seventh from right, NYK corporate officer Svein Steimler,
Second row, between Steimler and Nagasawa,
NYK Offshore Group senior general manager Yoshiyuki Konuma
*Shuttle tanker
Also called a “floating pipeline,” a shuttle tanker loads crude oil from floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) units in deepwater fields, and then transports the oil to crude-oil storage units or petroleum storage stations on land.
**Class 2 dynamic-positioning system
A more redundant dynamic-positioning system that duplicates all equipment and wiring so that no single fault in an active system will cause the system to fail.
***Bow-loading system
A system to carry out cargo operations along the bow of a shuttle tanker without contact between the tanker and the offloading unit (mainly FPSO units) in harsh sea conditions. Such a system also allows cargo hoses to be connected or disconnected from offloading units more easily than usual so that the shuttle tanker may evacuate quickly in case of an emergency.
Related press release:
“KNOT Develops Business Relationship with the Repsol Group,” January 24, 2013,
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