Lloyd’s List: Shell Tops League of Dirty Tanker Charterers

“Oil major Shell has emerged as the top charterer of dirty tankers in 2009, in a year when the total number of recorded spot fixtures dropped by nearly 9% to 8,800. Analysis by New York-based Poten & Partners showed that Shell maintained its mantle as the world’s largest user of tanker tonnage for the third consecutive year. . . .  Total fixture numbers last year failed to achieve 2008 levels in all but one tanker class, that of panamaxes. Very large crude carrier fixtures fell 7.1% to 1,567. Significantly, eight of the top 10 charterers of VLCCs were Asia-based, with Unipec hiring 183 tankers, followed by Indian Oil Corp and PetroChina.”