Tanker Optimism Must Wait for Macro Improvement

Like tanker company earnings reports, the Poten Weekly Tanker Opinion has made for grim reading in recent weeks, with discussions of flagging IEA demand outlooks, rising US crude production driving sharp cuts in crude imports and the prospects of scrapping 15-year old tankers. The relentlessly-negative tone is due, not so much to the dire current earnings environment, but to the uncertain global macroeconomic outlook. Dirty tanker supply should slow meaningfully during 2013, and provide a powerful underpinning to the next tanker market recovery, but until the global economy rebounds and supports strong oil demand growth and crude runs, near-term tanker prospects will remain mired in low utilisations and earnings. Download here