Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd, (MOL), with Head office located at Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan and Reliance Ethane Holding Pte. Ltd. (REHPL) a 100% subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) (*1) and based in Singapore agreed to co-owning of 6 Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs) (*2) which are currently fully owned by REHPL. (*3)
The six VLECs were delivered in 2016-2017 and have been engaged for transportation of Liquefied Ethane from Houston (US Gulf coast) to Reliance facilities at Dahej in West coast of India. MOL has been involved right from the shipbuilding supervision stage at Samsung Heavy Industries yard in Korea and in the operation of the VLECs thereafter. Prior to this transaction, MOL and RIL have cooperated in the transportation of crude oil on VLCC's.
After two and a half years of efficient and safe operation of VLEC's as well, MOL, through this strategic investment, shall now to be a stakeholder in terms of co-owning of the 6VLECs.
It is pertinent to record that MOL is the only Japanese shipping company and the largest VLEC operator in the world. This development is in line with MOL's philosophy of aiming for Higher Competitiveness in the field in terms of safety and reliable ocean-going transportation and meaningful contribution to the emerging energy transportation scenario.
VLECs:
| Ship's Name | Ethane Crystal | Ethane Emerald | Ethane Opal | Ethane Pearl | Ethane Sapphire | Ethane Topaz |
| Delivery | 2016 | 2016 | 2017 | 2017 | 2017 | 2017 |
| Flag | Marshall Island | |||||
| Capacity | Around 87,000CBM | |||||
| LOA | 227.8m | |||||
| Beam | 36.5m | |||||
(*1) Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)
RIL is India's largest private sector company, with a consolidated turnover of INR 622,809 crore (US$90.1 billion) and net profit of INR 39,588 crore (US$ 5.7 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2019. RIL's activities span hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, retail and digital services.
RIL is the first private sector company from India to feature in Fortune's Global 500 list of 'World's Largest Corporations'
(*2) Very Large Ethane Carrier(VLECs)
VLEC is designed for transportation of liquified ethane which has over 80,000m3 of tank capacity. The vessels which transport liquified ethane at - 92 degrees have GTT Mark III membrane system and reliquefaction system. VLEC is between LNG carrier which transports liquified natural gas at 162 degrees and LPG carrier which transports liquified propane gas at - 42 degrees
(*3) The deal will swiftly be proceeded subject to approval by the relevant competition law authorities.
Source: MOL