Global commodities trader Trafigura has acquired Gearbulk’s stake in High Heat Tankers (HHT) joint venture for an undisclosed sum. The HHT business ships liquid coal tar pitch through long-term contracts of affreightment, focussing on aluminium smelters primarily based in the Middle East, the West Coast of Canada and Asia. The 50/50 owned jv was set up in July 2018 with 14 vessels ranging from 15,000 to 37,000 dwt, including three from Gearbulk which are included in the transaction. Gearbulk Norway will continue to technically manage the trio. In addition, Trafigura has decided to expand the fleet with a newbuild 17,500 dwt IMO II specialised tanker to be delivered in the third quarter of 2026 from Chengxi Shipyard in China. “This decision demonstrates our long term commitment to the specialised high heat tanker segment with the most modern and energy efficient vessels available,” said Andrea Olivi, global head of wet freight for Trafigura. The world’s largest open-hatch operator, Gearbulk, is in the course of a takeover by Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) in a deal that is expected to close by January next year. “This is a natural development of the successful collaboration between our companies since HHT was formed in 2018. Gearbulk is in the process of renewing its core open hatch dry bulk fleet and have chosen to divest in HHT,” said Kristian Jebsen, chairman of Gearbulk. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); }); TagsNorway Singapore