Nordic American Tankers insisted on Monday that the underlying strength of the tanker sector would not be knocked off course by the uncertainty sweeping global banking.
Founder and CEO Herbjorn Hansson said the lower orderbook and political uncertainty were all good for the industry even as oil prices fell amid persistent concerns of a banking crisis.
The biggest casualty of the upheaval has been Credit Suisse, the biggest lender to Greek shipping, which was rescued over the weekend by the UBS Group in a deal brokered by the government. Two smaller US banks have failed in recent weeks.
“We would like to highlight three observations on the market for oil transportation,” said Hansson.
“We are not affected by the banking crisis that we see. We are not affected by the fluctuations in the oil price. The market for our vessels continues to be strong.”
The last major banking crisis in 2007-2008 came when the orderbook for suezmax tankers stood at about 50% of the existing fleet. It was now about 2%, said Hansson.
He said earlier this month that the suezmax tanker specialist was raking in money because of high tanker rates sparked by the war in Russia.
“The supply side of our market is protected for years to come, thereby strengthening the fundamentals,” he said.
Turmoil at Credit Suisse spooked the markets with oil slumping to a 15-month low.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs predict that oil will reach $94 this year and not the $100 it had previously forecast, according to Bloomberg. That will likely lead to Opec producers limiting output increases, it said.
Despite the turmoil, Chinese oil demand is expected to drive the fortunes of the tanker sector in the coming year, said Nicolai Hansteen, chief shipping analyst at Lorentzen & Co.
“Estimates have been revised upwards to such an extent that much of this year’s global boost will ride high on China’s development,” he wrote.
