New York-listed Teekay Tankers also benefited from growth in its owned fleet and efforts to increase chartered tonnage last year to more than double its bottom line in the first three months of 2015.

Kevin Mackay, chief executive of Teekay Tankers, said: “The company experienced the strongest quarter in six years with free cash flow of $53m, or $0.46 per share, resulting in an annualized free cash flow yield of 32% based on the average share price during the first quarter.”

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