VLCC rates headed back to $70,000 per day? Which brave tanker CEO made the call?

With freight rates well into the red numbers for VLCC spot voyages, it might be hard for some to see the return of peak-cycle numbers anytime soon.

But then those observers would not be public tanker executives, who are rarely at a loss for optimism.

And so it was Lars Barstad, the interim chief executive of Frontline, who made the call on Thursday for VLCC rates averaging $70,000 per day in the last quarter of 2021 and first quarter of 2022.