The tanker market faces a potential tonnage shortfall over the next four to five years if newbuilding orders do not pick up, a top shipbroker has warned.
The UK’s Gibson Shipbrokers said the tanker fleet is ageing rapidly helped in part by a lack of demolition over the past 12 months.
This has been attributed to a combination of a dramatic improvement in tanker earnings and the gradual exit of predominantly ageing tankers into the dark fleet, destined to trade almost solely Russian barrels.
