The tanker market fundamentals are expected to be strong through the upcoming winter months and into 2020 on the back of firm tanker tonne-mile demand, low fleet growth over the next two years, and supportive near-term factors, including the impact of IMO 2020 and geopolitical factors.
Crude tanker spot rates started firming in September 2019 on the back of tighter market fundamentals prior to spiking in late-September and into October 2019 to the highest level since the peak of the super cycle in 2008, Teekay Tankers said.
The recent volatility in crude tanker spot rates has been driven by a combination of firm underlying supply and demand fundamentals and a series of other events, which have significantly increased tanker fleet utilization, said the largest operator of mid-sized tankers including suezmax, aframax, and long range two (LR2) vessels.
Factors that have driven tanker fleet utilization higher include - Increase in global refinery throughput; Increase in crude tanker tonne-miles as a result of longer voyage distances; Geopolitical instability in the Middle East region; Increase in floating storage as a result of IMO 2020; Slowdown in tanker fleet growth, and drydocking of ships for scrubber installation.
These factors have significantly tightened the crude tanker supply / demand balance with the consequence that any near-term disruptions are likely to give rise to significant tanker rate volatility.
This point was evidenced at the start of October 2019 when U.S. sanctions on two subsidiaries of leading Chinese state-owned shipping and logistics company COSCO removed up to 50 VLCCs from the spot tanker market and charterers scrambled for replacement tonnage. This led to an extremely sharp spike in crude spot tanker rates in a very short period of time.
Crude spot tanker rates have since come off the extreme highs, but remain at firm levels compared to the third quarter of 2019. This illustrates that the tanker market is very tight at the moment and that periods of rate volatility can be expected in the coming months, particularly during the winter when weather-related vessel delays are typical.
