Remember February 2009? That’s the last time tanker S&P indices were this high

Look back to when Kelly Clarkson’s “My life would suck without you” was at the top of the pop charts and Sussex spaniel Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee was celebrating his Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

Also, shipping asset values across the board were still spiralling downward from the 2008 heights that preceded the the Lehman Brothers crash.

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That is how long it has been since tanker asset values have been this high, according to the latest reading of the Baltic Exchange’s Tanker Sale-and-Purchase Index.

On Friday, the indicator of secondhand pricing reached nearly 59,600 points, a 1% gain over the prior week and the highest level since 9 February 2009, according to data from the exchange.

VesselsValue’s VV Tanker Index also reached a similarly lofty number, rising to $458 per dwt, the highest reading since 9 March 2009.

The valuation platform’s index on Friday represented a 1% gain on the prior week and an 8.8% monthly gain, not to mention a 61% rise over the same time last year.

To some, further upward momentum in asset value assessments in the tanker sector come as no surprise.

On Thursday, Nordic American Tankers unveiled the sale of a 2003-built suezmax tanker for $21m.

Above broker estimates

Clarksons Securities analyst Frode Morkedal said the price was “higher than broker values, signalling that broker values are likely to see further gains”.

On Friday, Athens-based Performance Shipping said it paid $35m for the 105,525-dwt Phoenix Beacon (built 2011), a ship that VesselsValue estimates was worth just $24m seven months ago.

The index rises come at the end of what shipbroker Clarksons said has been an active week in the tanker sale-and-purchase market.

It has been a busy period for buying and selling secondhand vessels of all types, with 99.7m dwt changing hands so far this year, making it the second-highest annual sales volume on record with still three months to go, according to the shipbroking giant’s weekly report.

With bulker values slipping, the tankers pushed the Baltic Sale and Purchase Index, which combines values in dry bulk and oil carriers, to 46,604 on Friday. That was a fractional gain from the prior week but the highest level since September 2020.