Whatever Floats Your Boat

It seems that summer has made bears of us all. And with the outlook for the fourth quarter looking less promising, owners and analysts alike have been searching for signs of life in a seemingly comatose tanker market. The single hull phase out has marched on with little observable effect, and the influx of newbuilding tonnage is stoking fears of overcapacity. In recent weeks there has been speculation that floating storage deals will come to the rescue of the VLCC market in these troubled times. However even as crude oil markets have seen contango persist, asserting storage as the savior of freight rates may be more of a Hail Mary than a sure bet. Download here