Shipowners begin to massively buy tankers to transport oil in winter

Shipowners begin to massively buy tankers to transport oil in winter Oil tanker owners are snapping up vessels that can haul cargoes in icy seas, a development that could help Moscow overcome the threat of a shipping bottleneck this winter
Energy
September 12, 2022 17:57
Shipowners begin to massively buy tankers to transport oil in winter

Oil tanker owners are snapping up vessels that can haul cargoes in icy seas, a development that could help Moscow overcome the threat of a shipping bottleneck this winter, Report informs referring to Bloomberg.

About $1 billion was spent on secondhand ice-class tankers during May-August, about five times the amount invested a year earlier, according to E.A. Gibson Shipbrokers Ltd. in London.

European Union sanctions are about to make Russia’s oil and fuel exports harder because the bloc, which is still a major buyer, will no longer be able to import most seaborne cargoes. The carriers may instead have to sail to destinations much further from the Baltic Sea - home to some of Russia’s top terminals - thereby stretching the ice-class fleet.

“Companies which intend to facilitate Russian exports this winter will need ice class ships,” said Richard Matthews, head of research at the shipbroker.

There were 42 second-hand ice class tanker sales during May-August, up from 12 in the same period a year earlier, Matthews said. Their combined transportation capacity was about 4 million deadweight tons, skewed mostly to crude oil.

The buyers are a mix of Chinese, Turkish and United Arab Emirates firms, Matthews said.

Some companies who already own ice-class carriers may be looking to sell if they don’t want to call at Russian ports this winter.

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