After posting heavy losses in the fourth quarter, oil-tanker companies are more optimistic for 2010 as the economic recovery is expected to stimulate oil consumption and boost shipping volumes.

Most publicly traded tanker companies, such as Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) and General Maritime Corp. (GMR) lost money in the last three months of 2009 as tanker voyage earnings crumpled on reduced demand for shipping. Refiners were faced with massive oil stockpiles amid weak levels of fuel consumption as the recession dragged on. Tanker market conditions are expected to improve as a rebound in the economy should spur greater fuel consumption and draw down bloated fuel inventories. Fleet growth is likely to be crimped by the phase-out of older, single-hull tankers and an expected delay in the delivery of new tankers.

"I'm celebrating that 2009 is behind us; last year was one of the most challenging of my 30-year career," Morten Arntzen, chief executive of Overseas Shipholding Group, said on a conference call to discuss earnings. The company posted a loss of $23.2 million in the fourth quarter, with voyage revenue plunging 41% from a year earlier.

The shipping market is expected to benefit from rising long-haul trade this year as developing countries, such as China and India , increase oil imports from Latin America and West Africa .

A reduction in global oil inventories should also give a boost to the tanker market. Such a drawdown in stocks could lead the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to ship more oil, Jeffrey Pribor, chief financial officer of General Maritime Corporation said on a conference call after his company posted a loss for the fourth quarter. He added that a recovery will also be dependent on a rebound in U.S. oil demand.

In addition to a recovery in oil demand, last year's record-high flood of new tankers into the market that drove down rates is expected to abate. Estimates from tanker companies show the global oil-tanker fleet grew by a record 6.6% last year, but Norway-based Frontline Ltd. (FRO) sees the fleet of very large crude carriers, or VLCCs moderating this year.

With the phase-out of single-hull tankers to meet environmental rules and the likely cancellation and deferral of new ship deliveries, "we could have negative fleet growth for the year," Jens Martin Jensen, CFO of Frontline said on a recent conference call. Frontline was one of the few tanker companies to eke out a gain in the fourth quarter, reporting a $3.9 million profit compared with a $51.6 million profit a year earlier, boosted by a sudden year-end rise in spot rates.

Some owners have deferred new ship deliveries due to financing issues in the wake of the credit crisis while new shipyards have been struggling to meet delivery dates, as the building of new ships has taken them much longer than they had anticipated.

Tanker companies, such as Frontline, said consolidation in the tanker sector was possible as the economy improves.

Frontline is "looking at everything: buying ships or chartering in, looking for new ideas and deals like everyone else out there," Jensen said.

Even with a glut of tankers in the market, not many are available for purchase, though some distressed sales by owners stuck taking delivery of a vessel that's dropped in value are possible, some executives said.

With a three-year lag between ordering and taking delivery of a VLCC, another possibility is that some shipyards could be stuck with newly built tankers as owners, who commissioned the vessels during a tanker-market boom, fail to secure financing to complete payment for the vessels.

Διαβάστε ακόμα