Oil tanker operator AET has taken delivery of the Eagle Pilar, a new Suezmax Dynamic Positioning (DP2) shuttle tanker. The vessel has been purpose-built for long-term charter to Brazil Shipping I Limited, a Shell subsidiary.

The vessel was delivered on Wednesday by Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) in South Korea.

This 153,180 DWT DP2 vessel has been built in collaboration with DNV-GL and Eaglestar.

According to AET, the vessel is operating to the highest operational and environmental standards, including full compliance with IMO NOx Tier 3 and SOx emission requirements. 

“Eagle Pilar, by design, is approximately 25 to 30 percent more fuel-efficient than the DPSTs built in the early part of the last decade, thereby demonstrating our ambition to align with IMO’s 2030 carbon intensity aspirations. In addition, the vessel is installed with a ballast water treatment system, equipped with electrical driven cargo pumps for enhanced fuel efficiency, high-power thrusters and the latest position reference system fully capable of operating in harsh weather conditions,” the company said.

Apart from the Eagle Pilar, AET has another three new DP2 shuttle tankers to be delivered in 2021 and 2022 to Shell.

Eagle Pilar is expected to be delivered to Shell later this month and upon her arrival in Brazil will start operating in the Brazilian Basin joining AET’s six other dynamic positioning shuttle tankers (DPSTs) already operating there for Petrobras. This will bring AET’s DPST fleet in Brazil to seven, with six more DP2 shuttle tankers scheduled to be delivered in 2021-2022.

Globally, AET has 11 DPSTs (including Eagle Pilar), seven in the Brazilian Basin and four in the North and Norwegian Sea of which two are among the world’s first LNG dual-fuel DP2 shuttle tankers with VOC functionality.