Stock exchanges began a modest rebound Tuesday after suffering a historic rout, but tanker shares that didn't get the memo about slumping markets on Monday were extending their surge.
Some shares, however, were unable to rise above the coronavirus malaise.
During morning trading London time, 49 shipping shares tracked by TradeWinds Markets were on the rise, with just 10 in decline. That came as oil prices also pared their losses.
Offshore shares were posting the biggest gains, while dry bulk was the only sector whose equities were in decline.
London shares gain
The UK's FTSE index of 100 leading stocks was up 3.82% on Tuesday morning, and bond yields rose from record lows as investors bet on governments introducing stimulus measures to cushion the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
The world's biggest shipbroker, Clarksons, fell 1.53% in London, but rival Braemar dropped 7.78%.
Carnival was regaining most of the value lost on Monday, when New York's stock exchanges saw their worst one-day plunge since the 2008 financial crises.
Shares in the cruise giant's London-listed Carnival Plc were up 8.3% to £18.17 ($23.36) on Tuesday morning. Its New York-listed Carnival Corp shares rebounded 14.4% in pre-market trading to hit $24.88 after dropping 19.9% a day before.
In Oslo, tanker giant Frontline added 10.39% or $147m and another tanker player, American Shipping Co, put on nearly 7%, extending the prior day's gain as the sector expects to reap the rewards of the collapse of Opec+ talks over a production cut talks last week.
Offshore support vessel companies had taken a battering on Monday as the oil price plunged, but Norway's Havila Shipping rebounded 26.5% on Tuesday morning, while Dof added 3.5% and Solstad Offshore rose 14%.
Euronav jumps again
In Brussels, tanker owner Euronav's shares were up 8.9% in the European morning after swimming against the tide to gain 6.9% in New York a day earlier.
The world's biggest container line, AP Moller-Maersk, was up more than 6% in Copenhagen.
The stock market's bounce came as the May Brent crude price was up $3.90 to $37.10 on Tuesday.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global demand for oil is set to contract in 2020 by 90,000 barrels per day (bpd), its first annual decline since 2009, to 99.9m bpd.
Demand is expected to drop 2.5m bpd globally in the first quarter, and the full year estimate is based on demand returning to normal levels in the second half.
In addition, the IEA presented a low estimate, assuming Covid-19 is spreading more widely.
Fearnley Securities said that under this scenario, oil demand is expected to contract by 730,000 bpd in 2020.
In Asia, the day's trading saw markets take a breather and post a modest uptick.
After plunging Monday along with other share benchmarks, the Nikkei 25 index of Tokyo stocks stabilised to end the day up less 0.9%.
But Japan's biggest shipowners still couldn't stem the losses, with MOL's shares posting a 1.5% slump and NYK Line falling 3.4%, though K Line's shares were virtually unchanged.
US shipping shares were showing sizeable gains in pre-market trading.
Royal Caribbean Cruises was in a pre-market rebound, posting a gain of 13.5% after dropping 25.8% on Monday.
