Post-Panamax Stress Disorder
On its 99th birthday, the expansion of the Panama Canal poses an existential question for its namesake tanker sector. Speculation on the obsolescence of the segment is a timely topic of discussion since the commission of a third set of post-Panamax locks is due in late next year, or early 2015. While historically engaged in regional, dirty trading, Panamaxes must now face a different course. The decline of the fuel oil trade in the Caribbean and the much-anticipated emergence of long-haul clean products trades presents a crossroads for the sector.
