Nordic American Tankers and Frontline have set up their own tanker pool in a move which could sound the death knell for the Teekay-fronted Gemini Pool.

The New York-listed tanker twins will pour their spot-trading suezmaxes into start-up Orion Tankers in a cast-cutting venture, NAT reveals today.



Orion will have an initial fleet of 29 double-hulled tankers, with all of NAT’s vessels swapping over by the end of the year.



Herbjorn Hansson, CEO of Nordic, declines to answer questions on the switch when contacted by TradeWinds this afternoon – describing it as a “non-event”.



In its third quarter report NAT reveals both founding owners will have a 50% slice of Orion.



“This specialist suezmax pool with 29 double hull suezmaxes at the outset is expected to enhance customer service and reduce costs,” the report said.



“This changeover will bring us closer to the commercial operations and will not result in any disruption.”



With Frontline and NAT now out of the equation it is suspected Teekay will pull the plug on Gemini, as Konig & Cie is its only remaining partner.