Methanol transfer off stricken ship to take place weekend: source

London (Platts)--13May2005

A ship-to-ship transfer of the methanol cargo off the stricken Maltese-flagged
carrier Metanol, is expected to take place "over this weekend," a trading
source Friday. The 6525 dwt ship, chartered by a trading company, caught fire
May 3 while berthing off the French port of Lavera. The fire caused one of the
tanks storing methanol to explode, destroying around 200mt of methanol. The
company had planned to tranship the balance of the methanol cargo over the May
7-8 weekend, but had to delay because it was not able to secure a ship.
"Transfer will be done this weekend (May 14-15)," the source said, after the
company confirmed its logistics arrangement. The one-week delay in bringing
the methanol to shore had not caused an increase in spot T2 methanol prices,
sources said, highlighting the stable demand-supply situation in the
Mediterranean and the Northwest Europe, regions. Values were quoted Friday
around Eur209-211/mt FOB Rdam, compared to the close of Eur210-211/mt FOB
Rdam, May 6, according to Platts data.

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