The Street.com: Low Oil Didn’t Tank this Industry

08 May 2015: “The entire VLCC market is ‘firing on all cylinders,’ and won’t slow down anytime soon. That is the conclusion from a new report from Poten & Partners. Several industry players have posted “stellar earnings for the first quarter. Not only have low oil prices contributed to good conditions for tanker owners, but the supply of VLCCs has finally worked in the tanker industry’s favor. Just as with oil, the tanker industry experiences booms and busts. About a decade ago there was a big build out in tanker capacity, which led to an oversupply of ships. As demand has caught up, supply has remained relatively stable, pushing up tanker rates. ‘While deliveries will pick up in 2016, the overall orderbook remains reasonable and expectations are for only modest fleet growth through 2017,’ the Poten report found.”