Western sanctions against the Russian pipeline have led to an increase in demand for mid-size tankers. The number of transactions for the purchase of the most popular class of Aframax tankers in the world in 2022 has increased by 30%. Tankers of this class can call at most Russian and foreign ports.
Growth in demand is recorded not only for ships of the Aframax class with a deadweight (maximum weight of all cargo that a ship can carry) from 80 to 120 thousand tons. During the year, a record growth in the number of global transactions for the sale and purchase of tankers of the Suezmax class with a deadweight of 120-160 thousand tons was recorded. Western media, familiar with the situation in the commodity market, note that only in the Far Eastern port of Kozmino in the Primorsky Territory, 30 tankers are shipped every month. However, it is not always possible to determine the ownership of the vessels.
According to VesselsValue, a specialized agency, the number of transactions with anonymous buyers in the Aframax segment increased from 6 to 10, and in the Suezmax class from 4 to 14 tankers. Market participants attribute this increase to the development of the Russian fleet of parallel tankers. Demand is expected to drive ship prices up. For example, in February 2022, the cost of a 15-year-old Aframax tanker was around $17 million, and in February this year, a similar vessel was sold to an unnamed customer in the Middle East for $37 million. of dollars.
The growing demand for middle-class tankers has ensured the loading of shipbuilding companies for years to come. So, in the portfolio of orders of the Russian shipbuilding complex The Eastern Herald there is a series of 12 such ships. Three of them have already been transferred to Rosneft, and four more are currently under construction.
Photos used: SSK The Eastern Herald press service
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