Jens Martin Jensen, CEO of tanker
company Frontline Ltd. [NYSE:FRO] (Frontline), says the industry should create
a fund to encourage the scrapping of excess very large crude carriers (VLCCs),
industry news site ShippingWatch reports.
"We're all burning our money
in this market and something needs to happen," Jensen said.
"This could be a pool that
offers a few million USD in premium.
"Instead of a price of USD
16 million on the scrapping market, for instance, the fund would offer USD 18
million."
Frontline has said it plans to
scrap ships that are more than 15 years old, assuming there is no major change
in the market.
There is a surplus of about 70
ships in the global market, and 60 ships are over 15 years old, which means if
the fund encouraged the scrapping of all those ships it could eliminate the
market imbalance.
Even as Frontline is scrapping
vessels, the related company Frontline 2012 has ordered 60 ships, including MR
and LR tankers and gas carriers, and other companies including Scorpio Tankers
Inc. [NYSE:STNG] (Scorpio Tankers) have also been on buying sprees for these
types of vessels.
Jensen said Frontline does not
want to "scrap the total fleet with the one hand while using the other
hand to acquire a new, cheaper, more environmental fleet," but he said the
newbuilding contracts were made at the right time.
Along with various private
companies, China has been pushing for increased scrapping.
Source:
ship and bunker. 13 September 2013
http://shipandbunker.com/news/world/731932-frontline-calls-for-vessel-scrapping-fund
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