New York-based brokers Poten & Partners has released its annual dirty spot chartering rankings with China’s Unipec remaining the dominant force in tanker shipping.
While China’s Unipec was still the top player in the tanker market for 2023, the company moved 6.8% less cargo in 2023 versus 2022 and concluded 50 fewer fixtures, according to Poten data.
For VLCCs, Unipec had more reported fixtures than the rest of the top 10 combined.
In the suezmax segment, Total maintained its number one spot, followed by ExxonMobil. Big gainers were Shell, which moved from tenth to third and Unipec which went from ninth in 2022 to sixth spot.
Vitol topped the aframax spot charterers league, followed by BP and Chevron.
On a global basis, the total reported spot cargo volumes were up 3.6% last year, but the number of fixtures were down by 300 or 3.8%.
