Tankers

Tankers approaching the low point of the cycle

Is the tanker market approaching the bottom of the cycle finally? That point of view is hinted at in the latest weekly report from Clarksons Research, published early ahead of the Christmas break.

Looking at the secondhand market for tankers this week, Clarksons discusses the en bloc deal between International Seaways and Euronav for six VLCCs worth a total of $434m before elaborating on the wider market.

“For vessels around 10 years of age and younger, we continue to see strong levels of enquiry (as the feeling that we are near the low point of the cycle remains), but finding willing sellers in line with this pricing remains tough and so single ship deals have been few and far between,” Clarksons Research notes.

Elsewhere in the 20-page weekly report, Clarksons looks at how tankers have been the “saving grace” in what has been an otherwise subdued year for ship recycling.

“With the freight markets improving in the dry and container sectors this year, the supply of tonnage to the recycling markets has decreased year-on-year by 21% on an annualised basis,” Clarksons reported. “However, the saving grace has been the tanker sector, with 10.7m dwt of tanker tonnage scrapped this year, more than four times as much as last year and accounting for 31% of total tonnage scrapped in the year to date.”

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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