Hafnia: The market is coming back
SHIPPING: Anders Engholm, CEO of leading MR and LR1 pool operator Hafnia, strongly believes that the product tanker market is bottoming out, which will lead to a slow recovery.
At a meeting in Copenhagen, Engholm said he thought that consolidation was a good way forward for these particular sectors, especially through the use of pools.
“This method optimises volumes, meaning that the fleet is traded more efficiently”, says Engholm.
He thought that the cause for cautious optimism stemmed from the fact that the refineries were moving closer to the wells, leading to extra tonne/miles.
To further consolidate the LR1 pool concept, a management company – Straits Tankers – was set up in Singapore.
Straits Tankers is a joint venture between Hafnia and MOL and is run from Copenhagen and Singapore, commercially managing 35 LR1s.
At present, the pool members consist of MOL, Marinvest, Gotlandsbolaget, Nordic Tankers, Tailwind and UACC.
Source: Tanker Operator
