An explosion has hit a Singapore-flagged oil product tanker at the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah, causing hull damage but no crew injuries.
The BW Rhine Long Range 1 (LR1) tanker was hit by an external source while discharging at Jeddah at 12.40am local time (9.40pm GMT) on Monday, according to Hafnia, the owner and operator of the tanker. The tanker then halted all discharge operations and the fire was put out without any crew injuries, the firm said.
The incident has led to hull damage at the vessel's ballast tank and cargo tank, both on the port side, said Hafnia, a subsidiary of Norwegian shipping firm BW group. "It is possible that some oil has escaped from the vessel, but this has not been confirmed and instrumentation currently indicates that oil levels on board are at the same level as before the incident," Hafnia said.
Saudi Arabia's state-controlled Aramco Trading booked the BW Rhine at $370,000 for a short-haul trip in the Red Sea area, according to a shipbroker report. The ship loaded 59,100t gasoline from Yanbu industrial port in Saudi Arabia on 7 December and began discharging at Jeddah on 12 December, according to data from oil analytics firm Vortexa.
Shipowners would usually pay a lump sum for anti-piracy insurance for shipments travelling through the Red Sea, a market participant said. Hafnia has not given any indication as to the "external source" of the explosion, but a market participant said it may have been Yemen's Houthi rebels.
Usually 5-7 LR1 gasoline shipments move from Yanbu to Jeddah each month, according to Vortexa data. State-controlled Saudi Aramco has signed contracts of affreightment with Hafnia, a market participant said, but other details are unavailable.
