Fairplay: Asia Tops VLCC Spot Fixtures

“ASIAN charterers dominated the list of VLCC charterers in 2009, according to research by Poten & Partners, the shipbroking and commercial adviser firm. ‘The fact that all but two of the top ten spot VLCC charterers for 2009 are Asia-based companies speaks to the central role that developing nations of that region have played in supporting ton-mile demand this year,’ its report said. The top VLCC charterer was Unipec with 183 charters. ‘Unipec blew the competition out of the water by almost 40% and bucked the trend by increasing their total activity by 63 fixtures,’ Poten reported.  In second, was IOC with 110 charters. That was followed by PetroChina at 105. Another step-change down and Shell was fourth at 80, followed by, in descending order, Sinochem, Reliance, ExxonMobil, SK, S Oil and CPC. There was an overall decrease, by 7%, of cargoes moving west in VLCCs trading on the spot between 2008 and 2009, which Poten attributed to fewer fixtures west from the Middle East.”