Danish-Cypriot tanker pool Norient Product Pool, has been expanded with another participant as Wilbur Ross-controlled product tanker carrier Diamond S has decided to place eight ships in the pool.

According to the latest edition of Norden News, which will be published on Friday, the combined size of Norient Product Pool (NPP) will reach 87 vessels: 48 MR and 39 Handysize, the highest number of vessels in the pool's ten-year history.

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Norden and Cypriot Interorient Navigation Company (INC) have operated the pool until now.

"We are expecting a great deal from this co-operation. Although NPP and the 2 owners have many years’ experience operating the pool, we can always improve. So we are looking forward to Diamond S' bringing something to the pool that we might have overlooked. Actually, that is already happening,” says Søren Huscher, who has served as CEO of NPP since its launch in 2005.

Alongside the US-based carrier's decision to place the eight vessels in NPP, Diamond S will also place a similar number of vessels in two other pools, giving the carrier ample opportunity to compare performances. Søren Hushcer says the following about this:

"Being ambitious at NPP, we obviously want to be the preferred collaborator of the American shipping company. And we can only succeed if we can document that we are better than our 2 rival pools," says Søren Huscher.

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NPP is an independent company headquartered at the same address as Norden in Copenhagen. The company is owned 50-50 by the Danish and Cypriot carriers. The two carriers have transferred commercial and operational management of their MR and Handysize product tanker fleets to the pool. All the Diamond S vessels are MR type.

NPP received the first ship from the US-based carrier in July.

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