Lloyd’s List: Chinese Tanker Ban Reduces Single-Hull Options

“China has confirmed that it will ban all single-hull tankers from January 1, further shrinking employment opportunities for the estimated fleet of 820 single-hull vessels, writes Michelle Wiese Bockmann. The second largest importer of crude after the US in 2009, China is a significant but diminishing trading destination for single-hull tanker tonnage . . . .  . China has chartered about 20 single-hull VLCCs from the 188 fixtures recorded for the first nine months of 2009, according to US-based broker Poten & Partners.”