BP Shipping
Encyclopedia
BP Shipping is the maritime arm of British headquartered global oil company, BP
. The unit covers the marine transport, logistics and insurance requirements of all BP's global activities.
Formed in 1956 as BP Tanker Company Ltd, its roots go back to the British Tanker Company
Ltd, which was formed to carry products for the Anglo-Persian Oil Company
. It is hence the oldest continuous business unit in the BP group. The company changed its name to BP Shipping in 1981 to encompass its marine insurance activities, and in 2006 transported 251.7 million tonnes of crude and products, representing around 5% of the world's sea borne oil movements
) back to Europe and into India
, in April 1915 the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) set up the British Tanker Company Limited (BTC) in April 1915, with an initial capital of £100,000. The BTC placed orders with two Tyne
based shipbuilders, Armstrong Whitworth
and Swan Hunter
, for a total of 7 steam-powered oil tanker
s.
The BTC's first tanker was the 3,663 gross tonnage British Emperor, launched in 1916. The names of all the first 7 ships bore the prefix "British", and all future additions to the fleet have followed the same naming convention. The 60th ship was the new flagship, the 6,998 gross tonnage British Aviator, BTC's first diesel
engined oil tanker, and was at that time the most powerful single-screw motor ship in the world.
Through steadying of relationships with the Shah of Iran, APOC managed to strengthen its position within the industry during the Great Depression
. With the outbreak of the Second World War
in 1939, the British government chartered the BTC's whole fleet of 93 vessels, to transport fuel for its armed forces. The fleet lost 41 ships sunk during the war, with 2 others so badly damaged they could only be used as storage hulks.
Employing 2,800 people based mainly in London
, Singapore
and Chicago
, at the end of 2006 BP Shipping managed:
Resulting in:
The marine insurance activity covers 800-900 miscellaneous craft such as tugs, crew boats, barges and seismic vessels used in support of BP group business around the world. All are vetted, with policy being that BP Shipping considers a vessel to be unacceptable unless positively identified otherwise. Of the 4,700 inspections in 2006, half resulted in an initial rejection.
Other marine holdings include:
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
. The unit covers the marine transport, logistics and insurance requirements of all BP's global activities.
Formed in 1956 as BP Tanker Company Ltd, its roots go back to the British Tanker Company
British Tanker Company
British Tanker Company Limited was the maritime transport arm of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, the forerunner of BP. The British Tanker Company was formed in 1915 with an initial fleet of seven oil tankers...
Ltd, which was formed to carry products for the Anglo-Persian Oil Company
Anglo-Persian Oil Company
The Anglo-Persian Oil Company was founded in 1908 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Iran. It was the first company to extract petroleum from the Middle East...
. It is hence the oldest continuous business unit in the BP group. The company changed its name to BP Shipping in 1981 to encompass its marine insurance activities, and in 2006 transported 251.7 million tonnes of crude and products, representing around 5% of the world's sea borne oil movements
British Tanker Company
Having initially employed independent contractors to carry its oil from Persia (now IranIran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
) back to Europe and into India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, in April 1915 the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) set up the British Tanker Company Limited (BTC) in April 1915, with an initial capital of £100,000. The BTC placed orders with two Tyne
Tyneside
Tyneside is a conurbation in North East England, defined by the Office of National Statistics, which is home to over 80% of the population of Tyne and Wear. It includes the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and the Metropolitan Boroughs of Gateshead, North Tyneside and South Tyneside — all settlements on...
based shipbuilders, Armstrong Whitworth
Armstrong Whitworth
Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. Headquartered in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth engaged in the construction of armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles, and aircraft.-History:In 1847,...
and Swan Hunter
Swan Hunter
Swan Hunter, formerly known as "Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson", was one of the best known shipbuilding companies in the world. Based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, the company was responsible for some of the greatest ships of the early 20th century — most famously, the RMS Mauretania which...
, for a total of 7 steam-powered oil tanker
Oil tanker
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a merchant ship designed for the bulk transport of oil. There are two basic types of oil tankers: the crude tanker and the product tanker. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crude oil from its point of extraction to refineries...
s.
The BTC's first tanker was the 3,663 gross tonnage British Emperor, launched in 1916. The names of all the first 7 ships bore the prefix "British", and all future additions to the fleet have followed the same naming convention. The 60th ship was the new flagship, the 6,998 gross tonnage British Aviator, BTC's first diesel
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
engined oil tanker, and was at that time the most powerful single-screw motor ship in the world.
Through steadying of relationships with the Shah of Iran, APOC managed to strengthen its position within the industry during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. With the outbreak of the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in 1939, the British government chartered the BTC's whole fleet of 93 vessels, to transport fuel for its armed forces. The fleet lost 41 ships sunk during the war, with 2 others so badly damaged they could only be used as storage hulks.
BP Tanker Company
In November 1954, APOC renamed itself the British Petroleum Company, and in 1955 the BTC became the BP Tanker Company (BPTC). By the end of the 1950s, the BPTC's fleet stood at 146 vessels, including super-tankers of 38,000 gross tonnage (67,000 deadweight tonnes), with plans to build tankers of 60,000 gross tonnage (100,000 deadweight tonnes), which would hold more than 25 million USgals (94,635.3 m³) of crude oil.Operations
Today, while BP Shipping remains responsible within the group for all water-born logistics, much of its fleet capacity is gained through hiring other operators vessels. The result is that it is also responsible for marine assurance on everything that is sited within or floats on water.Employing 2,800 people based mainly in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, at the end of 2006 BP Shipping managed:
- 57 vessels - four Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), one North Sea shuttle tanker, 42 medium size crude and product carriers, seven liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and three new liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers
- Manage 24 regional vessels, including coasters
- 100 hydrocarbon-carrying vessels above 600 deadweight tonnes on time charter
Resulting in:
- The shipping of 270 million tonnes of cargo volume
- 7,000 voyages, of which at any time 450-500 cargoes are “on the water”
- On average two thirds of shipments are made by sea-going tankers, the rest via inland and harbour barges
The marine insurance activity covers 800-900 miscellaneous craft such as tugs, crew boats, barges and seismic vessels used in support of BP group business around the world. All are vetted, with policy being that BP Shipping considers a vessel to be unacceptable unless positively identified otherwise. Of the 4,700 inspections in 2006, half resulted in an initial rejection.
Other marine holdings include:
- BP Shipcare Sdn. Bhd. - a lay-up facility located in East MalaysiaEast MalaysiaEast Malaysia, also known as Malaysian Borneo, is the part of Malaysia located on the island of Borneo. It consists of the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, and the Federal Territory of Labuan. It lies to the east from Peninsular Malaysia , which is located on the Malay Peninsula. The two are...
- Alaska Tanker Company - minority shareholding in five purpose-built ships to transport crude oil from Alaska to west coast US ports in the US
- China LNG Shipping - 40% shareholding in ship management service to LNG carriers serving the GuangdongGuangdongGuangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
LNG terminal
Fleet
| Class or name | Builder | Type | Ships in Class | Flag | Port of Registry | Year Entered Service | Year of Retirement | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P Class | Samsung Heavy Industries Samsung Heavy Industries Samsung Heavy Industries or SHI is one of the largest shipbuilders in the world and one of the "Big Three" shipbuilders of South Korea... |
Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) | 3 | Douglas, Isle of Man Douglas, Isle of Man right|thumb|250px|Douglas Promenade, which runs nearly the entire length of beachfront in Douglasright|thumb|250px|Sea terminal in DouglasDouglas is the capital and largest town of the Isle of Man, with a population of 26,218 people . It is located at the mouth of the River Douglas, and a sweeping... |
1999-2000 | Active | ||
| Tree Class | Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Co. | Aframax Aframax An ' ship is an oil tanker smaller than and with a breadth above 32.31 m. The term is based on the Average Freight Rate Assessment tanker rate system. class tankers are largely used in the basins of the Black Sea, the North Sea, the Caribbean Sea, the China Sea and the Mediterranean... |
8 | Douglas, Isle of Man | 2002-2004 | Active | ||
| Bird Class | Samsung Heavy Industries Samsung Heavy Industries Samsung Heavy Industries or SHI is one of the largest shipbuilders in the world and one of the "Big Three" shipbuilders of South Korea... |
Aframax | 12 | Douglas, Isle of Man | 2003-2006 | Active | ||
| E Class | Hyundai Mipo Dockyard | Medium Range Products Tanker | 5 | London, United Kingdom; Douglas, Isle of Man | 2003-2007 | Active | ||
| Virtue Class | Hyundai Mipo Dockyard | Large Range Product Tanker | 12 | Douglas, Isle of Man | 2004-2005 | Active | ||
| C Class | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Mitsubishi Heavy Industries , or MHI, is a Japanese company. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi Group.-History:In 1870 Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of Mitsubishi took a lease of Government-owned Nagasaki Shipyard. He named it Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works, and started the shipbuilding business on a full scale... |
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Carrier | 4 | Douglas, Isle of Man | 2006-2007 | Active | ||
| Trader Class | Samsung Heavy Industries Samsung Heavy Industries Samsung Heavy Industries or SHI is one of the largest shipbuilders in the world and one of the "Big Three" shipbuilders of South Korea... |
LNG carrier LNG carrier An LNG carrier is a tank ship designed for transporting liquefied natural gas . As the LNG market grows rapidly, the fleet of LNG carriers continues to experience tremendous growth.-History:... |
3 | Douglas, Isle of Man | 2002-2003 | Active. First Spot-market LNG carriers. | ||
| GEM Class | Hyundai Heavy Industries Hyundai Heavy Industries Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. is the world's largest shipbuilding company, headquartered in Ulsan, South Korea. The company is a subsidiary of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group... |
LNG carrier | 4 | Douglas, Isle of Man | 2007-2008 | Active. First Dual-Fuel Diesel-Electric (DFDE) LNG carriers. | ||
| Northwest Shearwater | Kawasaki Heavy Industries Kawasaki Heavy Industries is an international corporation based in Japan. It has headquarters in both Chūō-ku, Kobe and Minato, Tokyo.The company is named after its founder Shōzō Kawasaki and has no connection with the city of Kawasaki, Kanagawa.... |
LNG carrier | 1 | Hamilton, Bermuda Hamilton, Bermuda Hamilton is the capital of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is the territory's financial centre and a major port and tourist destination.-Geography:... |
1991 | Active. Operated vessel for North West Shelf Venture North West Shelf Venture The North West Shelf Venture, situated in the north-west of Western Australia, is Australia's largest resource development project. It involves the extraction of petroleum at offshore production platforms, onshore processing and export of liquefied natural gas, and production of natural gas for... . |
||
| Loch Rannoch | Daewoo shipbuilding and marine Engineering | Shuttle Tanker (DP2) | 1 | Lerwick, Shetland | 1998 | Active. Transports oil produced in Schiehallion oil field to Sullom Voe Terminal Sullom Voe Terminal The Sullom Voe Terminal is an oil and liquefied gas terminal at Sullom Voe in the Shetland Islands of Scotland. It handles production from oilfields in the North Sea and East Shetland Basin... . |
||
| Barge | Breko Nieuwbouw B.V. | Lubricating Oil | 2 | Rotterdam Rotterdam Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre... , Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... |
2007-2008 | Active. Operated by Verenigde Tankrederij B.V. | ||