Researchers at Singapore-based Eastport Maritime are predicting chemical tanker owners are set to have greater pricing power thanks to all the consolidation seen in the sector.
Recently Norden’s Norient Product Pool partnered with Diamond S Shipping to form a new joint venture, DiaNor, which will turn Norient into the world’s largest MR product tanker operator. Chembulk Tankers is moving its chemical tankers to Womar’s pools and Team Tankers is placing its vessels in Maersk Tankers’ pools. Hafnia is also about to bring to the market its own handysize pool too, noting in a release earlier this month: “Expansion of pools through commercial alliances demonstrates that our peers also recognise the value in market consolidation.”
“Consolidation among chemical tanker fleets could well lead to less competition on some trade lanes and therefore more pricing power on the part of owners,” Eastport suggested in a new report.
Writing for Splash today, Graham Porter, the chairman of Tiger Group Investments, noted how certain niche trades , such as chemical, have seen rates improve during the coronavirus pandemic to levels not seen for many years.
