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Norway's Frontline sees major weakening in tanker market in H2
Copenhagen (Platts)--31Aug2016/936 am EDT/1336 GMT
Norway's Frontline, one of the biggest international independent tanker groups, expects a major deterioration in the tanker market in the remaining half of the year, compared with the first half, it said Wednesday.
Posting second-quarter results, the company said the softer global tanker market led to its Q2 net profit slumping to $14.3 million from $78.9 million in the first quarter.
"The spot market is currently at a 24-month low, and although we expect the rate environment to improve from current levels, the second half of 2016 will be significantly weaker than the first half of the year," Frontline CEO Robert Hvide Macleod said in a statement.
"In the second quarter the tanker market experienced a downward pressure on rates which has continued into the third quarter," Macleod added.
While these quarters are seasonally weaker, the tanker market was also hit by crude oil supply disruptions in the Atlantic basin, high levels of crude inventories, 13 vessels delivering from the newbuild fleet and easing congestion in ports around the world, Macleod said.
Macleod said Frontline's scale, strong shareholder base and cost-effective operations positioned it well in the difficult market, with CFO Inger Klemp indicating the group had sound financial resources to ride out the market.
Klemp said the company had secured bank financing of up to $548 million and was in the final stages of obtaining approval for further bank financing of up to $325 million.
She said this new financing would partly finance 20 of Frontline's newbuild contracts at highly attractive terms, with the group maintaining its very low cash break-even levels.
As of June 30, 2016, the company's fleet consisted of 82 vessels, including newbuilds, with an aggregate capacity of approximately 15 million dwt. The newbuild program comprised eight LR2 tankers, eight VLCCs and eight Suezmax tanker newbuildings.
Almost 100 VLCCs were still to be delivered over the next two years and this was expected to put pressure on the tanker market.
Frontline said there had been a notable absence of new orders placed in 2016 and it expected constraints in debt financing would continue to restrict newbuild orders, perhaps leading to a stronger market further out in the cycle.
"Shipyards are also under pressure to restructure, and a reduction of capacity at several yards is expected," Frontline said. "Periods of market weakness, like we are currently experiencing, may also encourage scrapping of older tonnage, a factor which has been virtually absent for the last two years."
Tankers: UKC-East VLCC freight rates fall to lowest recorded level on abundant supply
London (Platts)--5Sep2016/929 am EDT/1329 GMT
The cost of sending fuel oil cargoes to Singapore from Rotterdam on VLCCs has dropped to the lowest level in more than 10 years due to a large supply of available ships in the UK Continent, sources said.
The UK Continent-East route, basis 270,000 mt, was assessed $200,000 lower at a $2.3 million lump sum Friday, according to S&P Global Platts data, the lowest since Platts started assessing the route in January 2006.
On the fixture front, VLCCs were booked at $2.25 million and $2.3 million last week for Rotterdam-Singapore fuel oil runs in September. The current freight rates represent a major downward movement from January, when rates were as high as $6.4 million.
The dwindling returns attainable by shipowners on the route this year have been reflected across the VLCC spectrum, with freight rates near historic lows in a variety of regions.
The main factor behind the dropping rates has been an increase in global VLCC supply, with a large number of newbuilds joining the existing fleet.
According to data from Affinity Research, there are 37 new VLCCs due to be delivered this year, with 24 having already joined the fleet. There are a further 39 VLCCs expected to be added in 2017, which is likely to heap further downward pressure on what are already historically low freight rates.
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