Sunday, July 30, 2023

Lady Malou - standing by

 The tanker Lady Malou arrived in Halifax last evening (July 29) and took up position in #3 anchorage. It is expected to move alongside Imperial Oil's #3 dock later this evening (July 30).

A typical MidRange vessel of 29,762 gt, 51,486 dwt, it was built by Hyundai Mipo in Ulsan in 2013. It is a member of the Latsco fleet of 41 ships (mostly tankers). The company was founded in the 1940s by the well known Capt. John S. Latsis. Once known as Petrola International SA, the company changed its name when it branched out beyond tankers. It is now headquartered in Monaco. (The name Malou is a short from of Mary Louise / Marie-Louise or Maria-Lourdes).

The ship is arriving from Baytown, Texas (in the Houston-Galveston Bay area) where Exxon-Mobil operates the large 588,000 bbl/day (92,800 m3/day) refinery and numerous chemical plants. By comparison Canada's largest refinery, operated by Irving Oil in Saint John, NB has a refining rate of 320,000 bbl/day (51,000 m3/day).

Imperial Oil is a Canadian company 69.6% owned by Exxon-Mobil and retails product under the Esso and Mobil brands but also sells product to other retailers for sale under their own brand names. Its former refinery (89,000 bbl/day) in Dartmouth, NS, ceased refining operations in 2013, and Imperial now uses the large tank "farm" as a storage and distribution terminal for the Atlantic region. It has a truck loading operation for inland destinations. 

It imports various products, including propane, by rail and its tanker dock is used to import and distribute product. Ships of Algoma Tankers move product inbound from domestic sources primarily Imperial's own refineries in Sarnia and Nanticoke, Ontario and outbound to such smaller ports such as Sydney, NS, Corner Brook, NL and Sept-Iles, QC. Imported product usually comes from Antwerp, Belgium, so today's shipment from Baytown is a little out of the ordinary.

When the Lady Malou was here previously, on Novemebr 1, 2021, its funnel marking was more visible, with the large "L" for Latsis. John S. Latis was one of the great Greek shipping "tycoons", but more discrete and private than his contemporaries Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos to name a few others.

November 1, 2021.
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