Unipec, a unit of Chinese state-run energy giant Sinopec, has tightened its grip as the world’s leading dirty spot charterer and is rapidly rising in the ranks of suezmax charterers.
According to report from Poten, Unipec continued to dominate the tanker charterer rankings in 2019 controlling 17% of all dirty cargoes globally compared to 14.7% in 2018.
In the past year, Unipec made a major leap in the suezmax segment becoming the second largest suezmax spot charterer in the world, slightly behind Shell. Last year, Unipec was not even in the top ten of suezmax charters, with growth mainly down to increased suezmax imports from Libya and more intra-Asian shipments.
In the aframax segment, Vitol and Shell maintained their position on top of the spot charterer ranking while Unipec also gained two places to fifth in ranking.
Chinese players continues to dominate the VLCC spot charter market, with Unipec leading the ranking and way ahead of the second placed IOC, while Sinochem, PetroChina and CNOOC were positioned fourth, tenth and the nineteenth in the rankings.
