Tradewinds: Africa’s Clean Tanker Promise

15 May 2015: “Poten estimates roughly 1,000 clean tanker fixtures into sub-Saharan Africa this year, up from less than 400 in 2010. ‘Based on the outlook for product demand relative to projections for African refinery output, the outlook for the next five years is also quite promising, driven mostly by the traditional powerhouses of South Africa and Nigeria,”’ wrote Poten’s analysts in a weekly research note. While port restrictions make MRs and smaller products tankers the seemingly obvious beneficiary of this trade, Poten notes that LR1s are often used for lightering purposes.”