As news of a number of fresh tanker orders trickles in, Braemar chief executive James Gundy has reassured owners that this will not become a flood any time soon.
Companies such as Euronav and Mitsui OSK Lines have been contracting crude tankers, while Al Seer Marine has just put pen to paper on new product carriers.
But the London shop’s boss told TradeWinds: “A lot of people are still very hesitant.”
“There’s a dilemma about which fuel to use,” he added.
Gundy said the first choice to cut emissions is LNG, but the price has been “moving around” and it is difficult to say where it is currently.
And he argued that many dual-fuel ships do not end up using the gas as bunkers in any case.
“While shipping is allowed to use what they’re using, they’ll use it,” he explained.
While talking to shipyards, the CEO gets the impression bosses feel they have had a good run of late with LNG carrier and container ship deals.
But boxship markets are now weaker, and elevated prices are making it hard for owners to move into the LNG sector.
“Entry levels are so high from where they were 18 months ago and delivery dates are so far out,” Gundy added.
Secondhand markets active
Sale and purchase markets remain active, Braemar said in its results statement on Tuesday.
“The teams are working really well, I can’t grumble about that,” the CEO said.
“All the desks are running. Dry has slipped a bit, but we’re large in the handysize market in Australia and that has been doing very well,” he added.
“We want to build on our globalised team and bring more talent through,” Gundy explained.
He said there remains “a bit of tweaking to be done, but after that, we can sit back and see where we are”.
On target
The company has a target to double profit to £18m ($21.3m) by February 2024.
Chief financial officer Nick Stone said the brokerage is likely to achieve that this year at somewhere around £20m.
But he cautioned that £5m of the bottom line will come from currency effects due to the strength of the US dollar.
“In our minds, we’re not counting that. So decent progress, but no victory yet,” Stone added.
