Nordic American Tankers stands to benefit from the fact that the supply of Suezmax tankers will remain at historic low levels for at least the next two or three years, says New-York listed shipowner.
The low orderbook for new tankers has always helped our industry, in accordance with suezmax tanker specialist NAT.
The world’s Suezmax fleet (excluding shuttle, product & Jones Act tankers) counted 573 vessels as of December 31, 2022, with only 14 vessels in order (2% of the world suezmax fleet). Only six suezmax tankers for delivery from the shipyards for the balance of this year and only five Suezmax tankers are in the orderbooks for 2024. For 2025 there is so far only expected 3 vessels for delivery. For comparison, there was 32 Suezmax tankers delivered in 2022 alone.
The available shipyard capacity has to a large extent been booked by bulk, gas and container ships, leaving very limited capacity to build additional Suezmax tankers with quality yards on this side of 2025.
The New York-listed owner of 19 suezmax tankers notes “this is very good news for the long-term market dynamics in our industry and we could potentially see net negative fleet growth in the conventional suezmax market in the coming two to three years.”
The war in Russia and historic low orderbook levels will be of benefit for the suezmax tanker specialist who announced a sharp rise in the fourth quarter 2022 net results, which were more than $50mln better than the same quarter in 2021.
As it is highlighted in its fourth quarter and full year 2022 results, energy security is of paramount concern as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the West’s strong reaction.
“Oil will have to be sourced from further away than in the past, creating longer voyages. Uncertain times also encourages hoarding among some buyers, adding to demand for oil and for the NAT tankers,” as it is pointed out by NAT.
