Company: ASC
Filing Date: 2025-03-07
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001558370-25-002500
Chunk: 70

Company: Ardmore Shipping Corp
Filing Date: 2025-03-07
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 4
Chunk 70
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 are involved, the country also produces above domestic requirements, which results in significant export volumes.

Table of Contents

In the U. S., the chemicals industry has been affected by the development of shale gas. Increased supplies of natural gas in the U. S. have already served to push down domestic gas prices, and the fall in natural gas prices has had a beneficial impact on feedstock costs for the petrochemical industry. In particular, the cost of ethane has fallen significantly since 2011, thereby increasing the competitiveness of the U. S. petrochemical industry within a global perspective.

Accordingly, U. S. ethylene production costs have fallen to levels where the U. S. can now compete with Middle Eastern suppliers, which opens up new opportunities to expand U. S. ethylene cracking capacity, and subsequently, petrochemical capacity. Several ethylene-cracking petrochemical plants have been established during 2013-2022 in the U. S. and globally driving rising ethane demand in the U. S.

Ethylene is a precursor for many organic chemicals shipped by sea (e. g., ethylene dichloride, ethylene glycol), so increased production will lead to increased availability of downstream chemical products for export from the U. S. Although the Middle East will continue to be the largest supplier of organic chemicals, the U. S. will be a major exporter of methanol and ethylene derivatives to the Far East market.

Chemical Tanker Supply

Chemical tankers are characterized mainly by cargo containment systems, which are technically more sophisticated than those found in conventional oil and product tankers. Since chemical tankers are often required to carry many products, which are typically hazardous and easily contaminated, cargo segregation and containment is an essential feature of these tankers.

Chemicals can only be carried in a tanker which has a current IMO Certificate of Fitness (“ CoF”). The IMO regulates the carriage of chemicals by sea under the auspices of the International Bulk Chemical Code (“ IBC”), which classifies potentially dangerous cargoes into three categories, typically referred to as IMO 1, IMO 2, and IMO 3. Specific IMO conventions govern the requirements for particular tanks to be classified as each grading, with the pertinent features of each tank being the internal volume and its proximity to the sides and bottom of the vessel’s hull.

The carriage of 18 cargoes is restricted to IMO 1 classified vessels, while most cargoes require IMO 2 vessels, including vegetable oils and palm oils. One concession