BP Shipping

BP Shipping

Formerly	BP Tanker Company
Industry	Shipping
Predecessor	British Tanker Company
Founded	1956
Headquarters	Sunbury-on-Thames, England
Area served	Europe Iran India Singapore Chicago
Revenue	£1.4 billion (2024)
Net income	£212 million (2024)

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 the BP Tanker Company, its roots go back to the British Tanker Company, 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

Origins

British Tanker Company

British Emperor, launched in 1916

Having initially employed independent contractors to carry its oil from Persia (now Iran) back to Europe and into India, in April 1915 the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) set up the British Tanker Company (BTC) in April 1915, with an initial capital of £100,000.^[1] The BTC placed orders with two Tyneside based shipbuilders, Armstrong Whitworth and Swan Hunter, for a total of seven steam-powered oil tankers.^[2]

The BTC's first tanker was the 3,663 gross tonnage British Emperor, launched in 1916. The names of all the first seven 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 World War II 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 two others so badly damaged they could only be used as storage hulks.^{[citation needed]}

BP Tanker Company

In November 1954, APOC renamed itself the British Petroleum Company, and in 1956 the BTC became the BP Tanker Company (BPTC). By the end of the 1950s, the BPTC's fleet stood at 146 vessels, including supertankers 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 US gallons (95,000 m³) of crude oil. A significant development of the tanker fleet was seen in the building of the British Admiral, the first 100,000 dwt tanker built in Europe and launched at Barrow-in-Furness in 1965 by Elizabeth II.^[3]

In 1981 the company was renamed BP Shipping Limited to reflect its changing role in managing the tanker fleet.

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.^[4]

Employing 2,800 people based mainly in London, Singapore and Chicago, at the end of 2006 BP Shipping managed:^[4]

• 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
• 24 regional vessels, including coasters
• 100 hydrocarbon-carrying vessels above 600 deadweight tonnes on time charter

Resulting in:^[4]

• 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 seagoing 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.^[4]

Other marine holdings include:^[4]

• BP Shipcare: a lay-up facility located in East Malaysia
• Alaska Tanker Company: minority shareholding in four purpose-built ships of 110,693 GT retained on time charter to transport crude oil from Alaska to US west coast ports. The ships are Alaskan Legend, Alaskan Explorer, Alaskan Frontier and Alaskan Navigator.^[5]
• China LNG Shipping: 40% shareholding in ship management service to LNG carriers serving the Guangdong LNG terminal

Fleet

Retired ships

Class	Builder	Type	Ships	Flag	Port of Registry	Service	Notes
	Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering	Shuttle Tanker (DP2)	Loch Rannoch	United Kingdom	Lerwick, Shetland	1998–2013	Returned to owners, Knutsen OAS, September 2013
P Class	Samsung Heavy Industries	VLCC	British Pioneer	Isle of Man	Douglas, Isle of Man	1999–2011	Renamed Ridgebury Pioneer Scrapped 2018
			British Pride			2000–2016	Renamed Ridgebury Pride
			British Progress			2000–2016	Renamed Ridgebury Progress
			British Purpose			2000–2016	Renamed Ridgebury Purpose
Tree Class	Tsuneishi Shipbuilding	Aframax	British Beech	Isle of Man	Douglas, Isle of Man	2003–2015	renamed Sea Beech
			British Hazel			2004–2016	renamed Sea Hazel
			British Holly			2004–2016	renamed Sea Holly
			British Vine			2004–2016	renamed Sea Vine

Active ships

Class	Builder	Type	Ships in Class	Flag	Port of Registry	in Service	Notes
Bird Class	Samsung Heavy Industries	Aframax	British Osprey	Isle of Man	Douglas, Isle of Man	2003
			British Swift			2003
			British Robin			2003
			British Curlew			2004
			British Cormorant			2005
			British Gannet			2005
			British Mallard			2005
			British Merlin			2005
			British Cygnet			2005
			British Falcon			2006
			British Eagle			2006
			British Kestrel			2006
E Class	Hyundai Mipo Dockyard	Medium Range Products Tanker	British Esteem	United Kingdom	London	2003
			British Explorer			2003
			British Envoy	Isle of Man	Douglas, Isle of Man	2006
			British Ensign			2006
			British Emissary	United Kingdom	London	2007
Virtue Class	Hyundai Mipo Dockyard	Large Range Product Tanker	British Integrity	Isle of Man	Douglas, Isle of Man	2004
			British Liberty			2004
			British Loyalty			2004
			British Security			2004
			British Tenacity			2004
			British Unity			2004
			British Fidelity			2004
			British Chivalry			2005
			British Courtesy			2005
			British Harmony			2005
			British Serenity			2005
			British Tranquility			2005
C Class	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries	Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Carrier	British Commerce	Isle of Man	Douglas, Isle of Man	2006
			British Courage			2006
			British Councillor			2007
Trader Class	Samsung Heavy Industries	LNG carrier	British Trader	Isle of Man	Douglas, Isle of Man	2002	First Spot-market LNG carriers.
			British Innovator			2002
			British Merchant			2003
Gem Class	Hyundai Heavy Industries	LNG carrier	British Emerald	Isle of Man	Douglas, Isle of Man	2007	First Dual-Fuel Diesel-Electric (DFDE) LNG carriers.
			British Diamond			2008
			British Ruby			2008
			British Sapphire			2008
	Kawasaki Heavy Industries	LNG carrier	Northwest Shearwater	Bermuda	Hamilton, Bermuda	1991	Vessel operated for North West Shelf Venture.
Barge	Breko Nieuwbouw	Lubricating Oil	Victoria	Netherlands	Rotterdam, Netherlands	2005	Operated by Verenigde Tankrederij
			Vanora			2006
V Class	Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering	VLCC	British Venture	Isle of Man	Douglas, Isle of Man	2013
			British Vantage			2013
R Class	STX Offshore & Shipbuilding	Aframax	British Respect	Isle of Man	Douglas, Isle of Man	2016
			British Resource			2016
			British Regard			2016
			British Renown			2016
			British Rigour			2016
			British Restraint			2016
			British Reliance			2016
			British Resolution			2016
			British Reason			2016
Century Class	STX Offshore & Shipbuilding	Suezmax	British Century	Isle of Man	Douglas, Isle of Man	2017
			British Heritage			2017
			British Tradition			2017
Mariner Class	Hyundai Mipo Dockyard	Product Tanker	British Mariner	Isle of Man	Douglas, Isle of Man	2016
			British Navigator			2016
			British Seafarer			2016
			British Sailor			2016
			British Cadet			2016
			British Captain			2017
			British Chief			2017
			British Officer			2017
			British Engineer			2017
Cloud Class	Hyundai Mipo Dockyard	Handysize	British Cumulus	Isle of Man	Douglas, Isle of Man	2016
			British Nimbus			2016
			British Stratus			2017
			British Altus			2017
			British Cirrus			2017
Partnership Class	Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering	LNG carrier	British Partner	Isle of Man	Douglas, Isle of Man	2018
			British Achiever			2018
			British Contributor			2018
			British Listener			2019
			British Mentor			2019
			British Sponsor			2019

References

1. BP Shipping Limited Companies House
2. The story of BP Shipping Ships Monthly June 2017 page 55
3. Bellamy, Martin (2022). "Editorial". The Mariner's Mirror. 108 (4). Society for Nautical Research: 387. doi:10.1080/00253359.2022.2117453.
4. "BP Shipping". BP. Archived from the original on 22 July 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
5. "Fleet". Alaska Tanker Company. Retrieved 13 July 2017.

External links

• BP Trading & Shipping