Euronav chief executive Patrick Rodgers says tanker companies will need to get larger to attract serious investor interest, and that such consolidation can occur "fairly soon."

Rodgers says the sheer number of companies, none with substantial market share, makes serious institutional interest wary of the VLCC industry.

"There's always been this question of whether or not shipping is appropriate for public markets," Rodgers told TradeWinds. "One of the problems is that none of the shipping companies that have been in the public markets have really been big enough to know."

&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p &gt;Rodgers made the comments to TradeWinds at the conclusion of the Connecticut Maritime Association Shipping 2017 forum, referring to Frontline's recent $523m bid for DHT Holdings. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p &gt;Earlier this morning, DHT added to the dynamic by making its own consolidation play as it plans to buy 11 VLCC fleet of BW Group for $538m.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p &gt;The deal makes DHT's fleet the sixth largest commercial fleet in the world at some 30 vessels, according to tanker brokerage MJLF. That puts DHT within striking distance of Euronav with 32 ships.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p &gt;China Merchants Energy, Saudi Arabia's Bahri, National Iranian Tanker Company and the John Angelicoussis-owned Maran Tankers are the top four. Of those, only Bahri, Euronav and DHT are publicly traded.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p &gt;US stock exchanges list seven VLCC owners with a total market value of $4.3bn, with Frontline and Euronav accounting for half of that amount. Rodgers says that number could likely drop as companies compete for scarce capital.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p &gt;Rodgers said: "It must be the aim to get two or three really big companies into the space. If that means there should be a merger between two companies, then that would be a very, very good idea."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p &gt;He hopes that Euronav can be one of the other consolidators in the industry.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p &gt;"I think its obvious at Euronav we have similar ambitions to grow and be large," Rodgers said. "We've made no secret of that."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p &gt;Rodgers declined to say if there is any imminent deal planned for Euronav. But the company continues to survey the landscape for deals, either for fleet or individual assets.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p &gt;Asked whether it was acquiring any company in the near term, he said: "I would say no we're not. We’ve looked at everybody and will continue to look at everybody."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/field&gt;&lt;field name="alternativebylines"&gt;&lt;value&gt;&lt;field name="alternativebylinevalue"&gt;Michael Angell and Eric Martin&lt;/field&gt;&lt;/value&gt;&lt;/field&gt;&lt;field name="companyticker"&gt;EURN.NYS&lt;/field&gt;&lt;tag identifier="tag:regions@tradewindsnews.com,2012:Saudi_Arabia" relevance="0.99"/&gt;&lt;tag identifier="tag:regions@tradewindsnews.com,2012:USA" relevance="1.0"/&gt;&lt;tag identifier="tag:organization@tradewindsnews.com,2015:Euronav" relevance="0.88"/&gt;&lt;tag identifier="tag:organization@tradewindsnews.com,2015:Connecticut_Maritime_Association" relevance="0.99"/&gt;&lt;tag identifier="tag:organization@tradewindsnews.com,2015:Frontline" relevance="0.99"/&gt;&lt;tag identifier="tag:organization@tradewindsnews.com,2015:DHT_Holdings" relevance="0.98"/&gt;&lt;tag identifier="tag:organization@tradewindsnews.com,2015:BW_Group" relevance="0.99"/&gt;&lt;tag identifier="tag:organization@tradewindsnews.com,2015:Maran_Tankers" relevance="0.99"/&gt;&lt;tag identifier="tag:newstopics@tradewindsnews.com,2012:CMA_WEEK_2017" relevance="1.0"/&gt;&lt;tag identifier="tag:organization@tradewindsnews.com,2015:MJLF" relevance="0.8"/&gt;&lt;tag identifier="tag:person@tradewindsnews.com,2015:Patrick_Rodgers" relevance="0.99"/&gt;&lt;tag identifier="tag:person@tradewindsnews.com,2015:John_Angelicoussis" relevance="0.86"/&gt;&lt;/content&gt;&lt;/escenic&gt;</p></div>