KNOT Shuttle Tankers AS

KNOT Shuttle Tankers AS is a Norwegian offshore shipping company that operates shuttle tankers — specialised vessels that load crude oil directly from offshore production units such as FPSOs and floating platforms and deliver it to onshore terminals and refineries. The company sits inside Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers AS (KNOT), a joint venture between the Norwegian Knutsen Group, a long-established Haugesund-based shipping family business, and Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), the Japanese shipping conglomerate. KNOT was formed to combine Knutsen's offshore tanker know-how with NYK's capital and global commercial reach, and KNOT Shuttle Tankers AS functions as the vehicle through which the group's shuttle-tanker fleet is owned and operated. Shuttle tankers are a niche segment of the offshore oil logistics chain. Unlike conventional crude carriers, they are built with dynamic positioning systems, bow-loading equipment and reinforced hulls so they can station-keep alongside a production vessel in heavy weather and take on crude through a loading hose. Because they serve as the physical link between offshore fields and shore, demand for shuttle tonnage tracks offshore production volumes, particularly in the North Sea, the Barents Sea, Brazil, Canada and West Africa. KNOT has been an active participant in these markets, and its vessels are typically employed on long-term contracts with oil majors and state oil companies rather than in the spot market. The company is not separately listed; it is a subsidiary within the privately held KNOT joint venture, whose fleet is commercially managed from Norway. Its brand identity is therefore a business-to-business one: it is known among offshore operators, charterers and ship financiers rather than to the general public. Its positioning rests on technical capability in harsh-environment offshore operations, a modern fleet and the backing of two established shipping groups. Because KNOT Shuttle Tankers AS is a private operating subsidiary, detailed public disclosure of its financial results, fleet list and executive team is limited; the parent KNOT group reports at the consolidated level. The brand remains active in the offshore shuttle-tanker trade.

KNOT Shuttle Tankers AS emerged from the offshore shipping activities of the Knutsen Group, a family-controlled shipping company based in Haugesund on Norway's west coast. Knutsen had built experience in tanker and offshore vessel operation, and in the 2000s the shuttle-tanker segment — serving North Sea and other offshore fields — became an area of strategic interest as oil companies sought dedicated tonnage to move crude from increasingly remote production units. In 2011 the Knutsen Group and Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) formalised their offshore tanker cooperation through Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers AS (KNOT), a joint venture combining Knutsen's technical and operational expertise with NYK's capital and international commercial network. KNOT Shuttle Tankers AS was established within that structure as the entity holding and operating shuttle-tanker assets, allowing the joint venture to contract directly with oil companies for long-term offshore crude transportation. Over the following decade the KNOT group expanded its shuttle-tanker and offshore tonnage, taking advantage of sustained offshore production in the North Sea and Barents Sea and growing deepwater output in Brazil, Canada and West Africa. Shuttle tankers became technically more sophisticated, with dynamic positioning, bow-loading systems and ice-class or harsh-environment specifications, and KNOT positioned its fleet around these requirements. The company has remained a privately held subsidiary rather than a separately listed entity, with its commercial and technical management integrated into the wider KNOT organisation in Norway. Its history is therefore closely tied to the fortunes of offshore oil production and to the long-term charter market, and it continues to operate as an active shuttle-tanker owner and operator within the Knutsen–NYK joint venture.

• 2011

  Knutsen Group and NYK formalise their offshore tanker cooperation through the Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers AS (KNOT) joint venture, within which KNOT Shuttle Tankers AS operates.

Specialist B2B offshore shuttle-tanker operator backed by the Knutsen and NYK shipping groups, focused on harsh-environment crude logistics under long-term charter.

• Shuttle tankers

  Specialised vessels with dynamic positioning and bow-loading equipment that load crude directly from offshore production units and deliver it to shore terminals.

• 2026-08-26

  KNOT Offshore Partners to acquire Hedda Knutsen owner Knutsen Canadian Chartering[1]KNOT Offshore Partners 拟收购 Hedda Knutsen 所属公司 Knutsen Canadian Charteringfinanznachrichten.de

  Reported: 2026-08-26

  KNOT Offshore Partners LP announced that its wholly owned subsidiary KNOT Shuttle Tankers AS agreed to acquire Knutsen Canadian Chartering AS, owner of the shuttle tanker Hedda Knutsen, from Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers AS for a purchase price of $113.0 million less $89.4 million of outstanding indebtedness, implying an initial cost of approximately $24.4 million.

1. 1KNOT Offshore Partners 拟收购 Hedda Knutsen 所属公司 Knutsen Canadian Charteringfinanznachrichten.de