Product Tanker Market Trends

摘要

1. The product tanker market has remained weak into early 2021, with spot earnings easing back from the moderate improvements that had materialised in December. In the LR2 market, earnings on the Ras Tanura-Chiba route fell to a four year low of $4,055/day in late January, having reached almost $18,000/day in mid-December. Meanwhile, clean MR earnings have remained relatively steady at weak levels, having varied within a band of $4-8,000/day since early September. 2. The market has continued to experience pressure from very weak seaborne products trade, with renewed 'lockdowns' in Europe for example interrupting improvements to oil demand. Seaborne products trade is estimated to have dropped by 11% in full year 2020, with trade still down by 7% y-o-y in Q4.