Tanker companies including General Maritime Corp and Tsakos Energy
Navigation Ltd may expand their fleets after the recession sent ship costs to
five-year lows last year. Prices for five-year-old very-large crude carriers,
or VLCCs, dropped to $77.1 million on December 14, the lowest level since March
2004, according to price assessments compiled by the London-based Baltic
Exchange. Tanker purchases may increase as the economy recovers from the worst
slowdown since World War II.
Oil demand will rise about 1.1 million barrels a day this year and 1.5
million in 2011, US Energy Department data show. “Ship values are low enough
now that buying vessels can make sense,” said Jeffrey Pribor, chief financial
officer of New York-based General Maritime. “The key now is not as much waiting
for lower values as picking the right time to buy. We have some hopes that
timing could be 2010.” Tsakos has $300 million on hand to purchase ships, said
Paul Durham, the Athens-based company’s chief financial officer. “Our primary
objective this year is to acquire vessels,”
Durham
said in a telephone
interview.
(
from
Bloomberg)