New tanker refreshes coastal shipping fleet

The MT Matuku arriving at Marsden Point. Photo / Mike Swords

A new tanker, MT Matuku, has started shipping petroleum products from the Marsden Point Refinery to ports around the New Zealand coast.

Matuku is a 50,000 deadweight tonne state-of-the-art Eco products tanker. Constructed by SPP Ship Building in Sacheon, South Korea, it has been designed to increase efficiency, decrease emissions, and meet New Zealand's trading conditions.

Silver Fern Shipping, a member of the ASP Ship Management Group, will charter Matuku to Coastal Oil Logistics Ltd (COLL) which transports petroleum products from Refining NZ at Marsden Point to the country's ports on behalf of its shareholders.

In keeping with Silver Fern Shipping tradition, the Matuku is named after a native New Zealand bird and is the Maori name for the Australasian bittern, which inhabits the wetlands of New Zealand and Australia.

The Matuku replaces the COLL tanker, Torea, which has been in service on the coast for the past eight years.

A second 50,000dwt combined products/bitumen Eco tanker is being constructed for ASP Group by Hyundai Mipo shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea, and is expected to enter service in December 2017. It will replace the Kakariki.

COLL chief executive Jon Kelly says the Matuku and the Kakariki replacement vessel will position COLL well to meet its shareholders' future shipping needs in New Zealand.