Platts: Shell with 725 Deals is Top Dirty Tanker Charter in 2010

“While oil major Shell maintained its position as top spot charterer of dirty tankers in 2010, Asian oil movers held sway in the list of top 10 spot VLCC hirers in a market that was still recovering from the 2009 financial crisis, a research report by ship brokers Poten & Partners released over the weekend showed. With 725 fixtures across the dirty tanker segments in 2010, Shell improved its 2009 showing when it had 691 fixtures to its credit. Following Shell was BP with 427 fixtures and Total with 426 fixtures, according to the Poten report. Both BP and Total maintained their second and third positions. The biggest jump on the list was for Chinese charterer Unipec, which rose to fifth place on the list last year with 399 fixtures after being ninth in 2009. Russia’s Gunvor saw its chartering arm Clearlake fall to sixth place in 2010 from fourth in 2009. Vitol bagged the fourth spot last year with 413 fixtures from being fifth in 2009.”