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Tankers are tipped by a host of analysts as this year’s best ship investment in terms of vessel appreciation. While the sector has been in the doldrums for a long time, hitting record lows this month, there is an increasing feeling among researchers that the tanker cycle is finally about to tick upwards - and with shipyards full for the next couple of years existing assets ought to become considerably more expensive. Tanker values have increased over the past year in no small part down to the container and LNG sectors filling out available shipyard space “Should the tanker market make an earnings comeback this year, which I believe it can, then I would expect to see the highest interest for secondhand tonnage in that segment, with a corresponding higher price increase potential,” said Dag Kilen, head of research at Fearnleys. The Norwegian broking house is also expecting a softer outlook for dry cargo towards the end of 2022. A spokesperson for Signal Maritime, which runs its own vessel valuation platform, also went for crude tankers when quizzed by Splash Extra. Product tanker values have not benefited from the same expectations seen in crude tanker values “The low orderbook at less than 7%, limited yard capacity for the next two years and the existence of about 30% of crude carriers in the age bracket of 15+ years old indicates that large crude carrier prices will keep appreciating in 2022,” the Signal Maritime analyst said. Adam Kent, managing director of Maritime Strategies International (MSI), suggested that it would be product tankers, not crude carriers, which would experience the greatest price appreciation this year, especially for older coated tonnage. “Product tanker values have not benefited from the same expectations seen in crude tanker values and have started 2022 closer to the floor, thus giving them more room to improve,” Kent said. MSI expects prices for 10-year-old MR product tanker to go from $18.5m at the start of 2022 to over $22m by the end of December, an increase of 20%, whereas 10-year-old crude tanker prices will see around a 10% increase in value over the same period. In a similar vein to product tankers, MSI forecasts older chemical tankers will also see values increase by more than 20% over 2022 depending on the exact vessel specification. Source: Fearnleys “With chemical trade growth forecasted to be over 6% in 2022 and fleet growth only 2% market balances will tighten over the year supporting earnings and asset values,” Kent said. On containerships, a red-hot sector price-wise at the moment, the MSI head felt there was little room for prices to head further north. “Although the sky has been the limit for containership asset prices over the course of the last 12 months, we don’t envisage there being much stratosphere left for container prices to propel themselves into during 2022,” Kent said. While conceding that it was tempting to bank on tankers with rates currently at rock bottom, George Delaney, a cargo analyst at VesselsValue reckoned gas carriers could well be the best bet this year. “With Russian gas imports threatened amidst current geopolitical tensions, rates for Middle Eastern and US Gulf imports to Europe are likely to firm, inevitably leading to increases in values for LNG and LPG carrying assets,” Delaney said. Source: Baltic Exchange

Tankers tipped as 2022’s best buy

Full shipyards and a belief that the sector has finally hit rock bottom are reasons analysts suggest secondhand tanker prices will jump this year.

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