Tankers International

Shipping
UK

[email protected]

According to an Annual report filed by Overseas Shipping Group for fiscal year 2012: "Non-U.S. subsidiaries of OSG contributed VLCC tankers they owned or chartered-in to Tankers International, a commercial pool that charters out vessels which in turn call on ports throughout the world in compliance with applicable law. Tankers International is a UK entity operated by the Tankers International pool manager, a non-U.S. person, which is responsible for chartering out each vessel once it has been contributed to Tankers International. Accordingly, Tankers International and its manager make the decisions with respect to ports of call and the practical arrangements necessary in connection with the chosen ports of call. OSG learns where a vessel contributed by one of its non-U.S. subsidiaries has or will be traded after the voyage has been fixed. Certain of the non-U.S. OSG subsidiaries continue to provide technical management, crew and certain operational support for the vessels contributed by those subsidiaries and, in that connection, may interact with port authorities or other government officials and representatives in the jurisdictions through and in which these vessels transit.

In early 2012, Tankers International vessels made five port calls in Iran, in compliance with applicable law, including one port call made by a vessel owned by a non-U.S. subsidiary of OSG in January 2012. The Tankers International manager and the customers that chartered out the vessels were not Iranian. However, when such vessels called on Iranian ports, interaction with Government of Iran officials, such as port authorities, may have been required. In any case, even when these vessels, including the one owned by a non-U.S. subsidiary of OSG, called on an Iranian ports, neither OSG itself nor any of its U.S. person, affiliates or employees had any role or involvement with Tankers International transactions involving Iran.

As a participant in the pool, OSG receives a share of Tankers International’s net revenues from a voyage based on its contribution of vessels to Tankers International, regardless of whether the voyage was performed by a vessel contributed by one of its non-U.S. subsidiaries or by another pool participant. OSG’s share of the Tankers International pool’s net revenue (after deducting OSG’s share of administrative costs) for 2012 derived from all voyages of all Tankers International vessels involving a port call in Iran totaled approximately $1,318.

Tankers International decided to terminate all new business involving Iranian ports in February 2012 after the European Union adopted sanctions on such activity. No vessel owned or chartered in by OSG or any of its domestic or foreign subsidiaries has called on an Iranian port since January 2012, and until the U.S. and European Union sanctions regimes permit such calls, OSG will not allow its vessels to make such calls, whether through a pooling arrangement or otherwise."

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"Four OSG-owned ships, managed by Tankers International LLC, called at the country's biggest crude-export terminal in the past year, ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show...OSG's Overseas Rosalyn, which can carry about 2 million barrels, arrived at Kharg Island on Jan. 27 and departed the next day, tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show.  It left about 16 feet deeper in the water, an indication it loaded cargo. The vessel is managed by Tankers International, which has its head office in Cyprus...Ship owners sometimes group thier vessels to coordinate charters and improve earnings.  The Tankers International pool operates 45 very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, from OSG and six other companies, including Antwerp-based Euronav NV and St Helier, Channel Islands-based DHT Holdings Inc...Three other OSG vessels from the Tankers International Pool called at Kharg Island in the past year, data compiled by Bloomberg show." (Bloomberg, "Iran Sanctions Tighten as OSG to Frontline Halt Crude Cargo,"  2/13/2012)