China is increasingly turning to sources of crude from the Middle East and the Pacific in a move that is taking its toll on tonne mile demand, according to Clarksons.
The UK shipbroker said Chinese tonne-mile demand is down year-on-year due to a shift in trade patterns as the country imports less crude from further away.
“Despite higher purchases from Western Russia, in the first half of 2022 Chinese crude imports from the Atlantic fell 18% year-on-year to 2.4m
