end of the year 2000.

A quartet of Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) are set to be built in the Far East and they will be registered in Hamilton.

The news came in a recent edition of Lloyd's List which reported that South Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries had landed a $360 million deal involving a pair of US investment firms and a UK bank.

British Petroleum (BP) Shipping will operate the four 307,000 ton double-hulled vessels which offer a cargo capacity of between 2.1 and 2.2 million barrels of crude oil apiece.

The transaction was arranged through US company Cambridge Partners, US investment bank Goldman Sachs and the UK bank Abbey National.

Delivery of the first vessel is expected toward the end of 1999 with the three sister ships following at roughly four month intervals.

There is a distinct possibility, continued the Lloyd's List article, that BP Shipping might extend the programme to six VLCCs.