Products Tanker Market Trends

摘要

The products demand forecast for the United States has continued to be downwardly revised as the economy continues to slow. The effect of this slowdown has been counteracted by increased demand in the Asia Pacific region where demand remains largely unaffected by high prices. The deadweight demand forecast growth for products remains robust at 4.1% y-o-y. Turning to the supply side, the products fleet increased to 86.7m dwt by the end of August following 0.2m dwt of deliveries. A total of ten products tankers were ordered in August, bringing the year to date total to ninety three. The end-2008 fleet is expected to total 91.8m dwt and the end-2009 fleet forecast currently stands at 102.4m dwt, a growth of 18% on the current fleet size.