Tanker market is cyclically high. Time to buy pricey new tankers?
- Long lead times and high yard prices are not dissuading shipowners from ordering tanker newbuildings
- Scorpio Tankers ordered VLCC newbuildings because it believes yard pricing is currently more attractive than secondhand pricing
- Major private owners such as Maran, Seatankers and Eastern Pacific have been active in the VLCC newbuilding market
Ideally, you’d want to buy assets cheaply at the bottom of the cycle. In practice, owners buy many new ships at the top, when they’re flush with cash. That was the case with containerships after the Covid boom, and sky-high VLCC rates are now fuelling more tanker orders
