ABU Dhabi National Tanker Company (Adnatco) charters in tonnage for LPG and dry bulk shipments.

The company was not involved in dry bulk until three years ago when it decided to enter the market.

Adnatco's LPG business is mainly to the Far East, and has a contract to supply Japan.

Recent years have seen a number of new bunkering projects launch across the GCC. A third of the world's tanker fleet calls into the Arabian Gulf to deliver crude oil and related products.

Adnatco's fleet comprises seven product tankers and a molten sulphur carrier, the Janana, which joined the fleet in 1993 to carry liquid sulphur from Das Island to Ruwais. The tankers were commissioned after 1979, when Abu Dhabi decided to build its own oil refinery and came on stream in the early 1980s.

The ships were built when the market price for newbuildings was at its highest, a company official said.

During the second Gulf crisis, Adnatco's vessels were redeployed in the Arabian Gulf, lifting Abu Dhabi oil and ensuring that stockpiles did not build up. After the crisis, the tanker company provided water and oil transport for Kuwait.

As the 1990s progressed, Adnatco turned its attention East, working with international oil companies.

Although it is headquartered in Abu Dhabi, the company operates mostly in the international market and prides itself on being a global operator.