Euronav

Euronav is a Belgian international shipping enterprise which focuses on oil transport by sea. Euronav is considered to be one of the major independent global oil shipping firms.^{[citation needed]}

Euronav provides complete shipping services in addition to its fleet of large tankers.^[1] The company is the successor to the Belgium tanker-owner European Navigation Company Ltd, an Isle of Man company, and to the French Compagnie Nationale de Navigation (CNN, at that time a subsidiary of the Worms Group (Worms & Cie^[2]). In 1995 European Navigation Company Ltd sold vessels, subsidiary, crewing and technical, management companies and goodwill to Euronav Luxembourg NV to form a joint venture between CNN and Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB). In 1997 CMB acquired CNN and transferred Euronav Luxembourg NV into the full ownership of CMB. Euronav had thus become the wholly owned tanker division of CMB.^[3]

On 5 January 2014 Euronav announced that it has entered into a contract to acquire 15 VLCC tankers from Maersk subsidiary Maersk Tankers Singapore in a deal worth US$980 million.^[4] This deal brought the number of ships from Euronav from 35 to 50.^[5]

In December 2017, it became known Euronav took over its American competitor, Gener8 Maritime. The new group had a fleet of 75 tankers, including 44 VLCC's.^[6][7]

On 11 September 2020, Euronav was granted a $713m loan facility by Nordea with the first withdrawal on 15 October 2020. It consists of a revolving credit facility of up to $469m and a term loan of up to $244m.^[8][9]

On 7 April 2022 there was announced a merger between Euronav and Frontline Ltd. pending regulatory approval and ironing out of the last details, including different strategic views between Euronav's and Frontline's main owners.^[10][11] The merger would have created the world's largest publicly listed tanker company. Euronav's largest shareholder, Compagnie Maritime Belge, opposed the merger and on 9 January 2023, Frontline announced that the merger would not take place.^[12] On 9 October 2023, Frontline sold its 26% stake in Euronav to CMB. As part of the sale, Frontline acquired 24 of Euronav's oil tankers for an aggregate purchase price of $2.35 billion USD.^[13]

General Maritime Corporation operated crude oil tankers, mostly in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Black, and North Seas. Founded in 1997 by Peter Georgiopoulos, in 2004 the company was the second largest (based on cargo capacity) operator of mid-size tankers.^[14]

In 17 November 2011 the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, after oversupply in the shipping industry caused it to lose money for at least eight quarters. In April 2012 General Maritime came out of bankruptcy as a result of investment from Oaktree Capital Management. Prior to its bankruptcy, General Maritime stock traded on the over-the-counter Pink Sheets (OTCBB) under the ticker symbol "GMRRQ", but has since been completely delisted and gone private. In the year prior to its bankruptcy, General Maritime's stock price shed 95% of its value.^[15]

In 2015, General Maritime Corporation merged with Navig8 Crude Tankers Inc. to form Gener8 Maritime, which owned 28 VLCCs at the time of the merger, of which 21 had been newly built. The company was incorporated in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.^[16][17]

In December 2017, it became known that Euronav took over its American competitor, Gener8 Maritime. The take over took the form of a merger, moving all Gener8's shares under Euronav's umbrella and Gener8 becoming a daughter company. Euronav stockholders held 72 percent of the shares, compared to 28 percent for the Gener8 stockholders. ^[6][7]

Technically, the fleet management is conducted by three wholly owned subsidiaries Euronav Ship Management SA and Euronav SAS, both French companies with headquarters in Nantes, France, and with a major branch office in Antwerp, Belgium, and Euronav Ship Management (Hellas) Ltd. with branch office in Athens, Greece. Euronav vessels fly Belgian, French, Greek and Liberian flag.^[18]

Commercially, most of Euronav's VLCCs and two or three V-Plus^[19] are marketed in the Tankers International pool of oil tanker operators.^[20][21]

• Official website

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Euronav.