Croatian MR owner Tankerska Next Generation (TNG) is looking ahead with optimism after boosting earnings in the fourth quarter.
Its six tankers produced net earnings of $1.08m, up from $0.57m in 2016.
Revenue grew to $44.1m against $37.6m, but time charter equivalent earnings (TCEs) dropped to $15,525 per day over 2017 as a whole, against $15,583 the year before.
Current owner expectations for one-year MR hires with immediate delivery are at around $15,250 per day, it said.
Three ships were operating spot after coming off term deals, although the 52,000-dwt Vinjerac (built 2011) clinched a short-term charter from Clearlake Shipping in July, which lasted into the fourth quarter. It then reverted to the spot market.
CEO John Karavanic said: "During the second part of 2017 the time charter market showed a slight recovery, but looking back at the past year as a whole the market conditions put a number of challenges in front of shipowners in order to maximize the commercial potential of the fleet."
Spot better than period
The three ships on term contracts made a solid contribution in volatile markets, he added.
But he said the three spot ships made more money than they could have done on period deals.
"Adjusting the fleet employment strategy to the current market conditions offered management enough flexibility to ease the current market volatilities, and resulted in an increase of revenues during the reporting period," he added.
"Using this mix between voyage and time charter contracts allows Tankerska Next Generation to timely react to the expected long term positive changes in the freight rate market."
The company will maintain an intensive focus on the cost effectiveness of the fleet operations, it said.
It pointed to rising oil demand, the strengthening of global economic activity and the reduction of oil derivatives reserves as reasons for tonne-mile demand to grow this year, and rates are expected to improve in the medium term.
