10th Capital Link Maritime Leaders Summit – Greece | Tanker Markets in Motion

So we're going on month four of the Iran war.

The street has been closed.

you know, for an equal amount of time.

You know, during this time, we've seen a lot of rerouting of oil and gas flows and the rerouting of trade routes.

You know, Jerry, maybe you could start us out.

You know, what's the latest on rerouting of oil flows and gas flows and realignment of trade routes?

Thank you, Keith.

I think what we have seen over the last couple of months is unprecedented.

We have lost 13 million barrels of oil moving through the straits.

And while we have seen some very limited traffic, I think for all effective purposes, the straits remain closed.

A lot of that volume or at least part of that volume has been made up through the Janbu pipeline sourcing of Atlantic barrels, West Africa, of course the US as well as Brazil being very active.

And this has caused, obviously, a huge distortion in the market, repositioning of fleets and longer ton mile.

All that has been quite conducive for the tanker freight market so far.

You know, the current trade distortions that we see will not make up over the medium to long term for the loss of volumes.

So the tanker market is probably hanging on the balance right now as the current new trades optimize and the hormones trades remain closed.

I think we have a downside risk to the market for as long as this persists.

So I think opening of the straits and starting the restocking cycle is going to be very important.

Antonis, what would you add to that?

I think what's for sure now is that tanker demand, oil demand, is definitely down.

And that's mainly because of the destruction of the Strait of Hormuz.

I think many countries, especially in Asia, have been struggling with that, as the AG has been the main supplier of oil for them.

However, we have not seen this in tanker freight markets yet.

I mean, the tanker freight market has been very strong, and that's mainly not because of the demand, of course, but because of the various inefficiencies around the world.

Ton miles have increased.

We have a lot of cargo, as Jerry said, coming from the west, going east, and that has made a huge difference.