More than 350 shipowners, charterers, operators, brokers and others descended on the Four Seasons Resort at Jumeirah Beach last week for a reception to mark the end of Bahri Oil’s annual VLCC Week.
This is a very select group, just focusing on the shipping side rather than energy
The Saudi Arabian shipping giant's event in Dubai has become one of the world’s largest gatherings of tanker market executives in recent years.
Food and drinks were flowing, new contacts made and old ones refreshed. In the run-up to the final event, Clarksons, Poten & Partners and others held their own events.
“There were too many parties,” one participant said through sleepy eyes.
Platts’ Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference (APPEC) Week in Singapore and Energy Intelligence’s International Petroleum Week (IP) can justifiably claim to have the ability to attract more officials from across the energy supply chain overall.
But when it comes to purely shipping — especially for large-size tankers — the VLCC Week now draws a crowd second to none.
Focus on shipping sector
“This is a very select group, just focusing on the shipping side rather than energy,” another participant said. “Bahri can boost the crowd to over a thousand if it wants, but it doesn’t really want the event to get too big.”
Indeed, there were many important players around, with senior tanker executives from Trafigura, Cargill and Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation all attending the event.
Global presence
“It’s a rather relaxed week," a European owner said. "There are no industry conferences like APPEC and IP... I can have good meetings with people around the world.”
We don’t see Bahri as a competitor at all. We see it as a business partner
The Bahri reception’s predecessor was Vela’s annual gathering in London. After acquiring the shipping unit of Saudi Aramco earlier this decade, Bahri relocated the event to Dubai rather than Riyadh — where Bahri is headquartered — and saw a growing number of side events.
According to industry officials, it is easier to travel to Dubai, where Bahri’s shipmanagement arm and oil and chemical shipping operations are based.
The VLCC Week’s increasing popularity can be attributed to Bahri’s unique status in the industry.
It is responsible for carrying crude from the world’s largest oil-exporting country to refineries across the globe for Saudi Aramco.
While being one of the world’s largest tanker owners, it also charters a significant amount of spot tonnage to meet its requirements.
“We don’t see Bahri as a competitor at all," a Tokyo-based owner said. "We see it as a business partner.”
