VLCC spot chartering was up 23% based on what the tanker brokerage saw as ’significant’ increases in shorthaul trading such as the USCG-UK Continent route, while Suezmax spot charters were down 15% and Aframax charters fell 22%.
"We suspect the drop in reported Aframax and Suezmax fixtures was related to the Russian sanctions," Poten said, with "less intra-regional trade in the UK Continent and Mediterranean and more longhaul trips to Asia. Overall cargo volumes and tonne miles were up across the board," the brokerage said.
"Unipec remained the king of the VLCC market with 746 reported fixtures, more than the rest of the top 10 combined. ExxonMobil moved up to the second spot, relegating Shell to third. SK Corp entered the top 10 and Equinor dropped out," the Poten report said.
Unipec also led overall chartering activity with more than 18% of total market share and 931 fixtures. ExxonMobil moved from fifth place to second followed by Shell, Vitol, Total, India’s IOC, BP, Chevron, Petrobras and Petrochina. Equinor dropped five places from 15 to 20. The top 20 charterers held more than 58% of market share of dirty cargoes.
In the Aframax segment, Poten saw a significant drop in reported fixtures, with top segment dirty spot charterer Shell registering 145 fixtures, as compared with 2021’s top Aframax charterer Vitol’s 225 fixtures.
Poten described 2021 market conditions as ’disappointing’, and the brokerage said that overall Aframax movements measured in both tonnes and tonne-miles increased in 2022, linking the shift in unreported versus reported charters to the so-called ’dark fleet’ of tankers trading in sanctioned cargoes.
"We expect a lot more market activity went unreported, espicially fixtures involving Russian crude," Poten said.