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jueves, 12 de noviembre de 2009

Middle East’s Fuel Hub to Ban Single-Hull Oil Tankers

Source: Bloomberg

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The Port of Fujairah, the biggest refueling center for ships in the Middle East, will ban single- hull oil tankers from next year, potentially spurring demolition of the vessels and limiting supply.

The Middle East accounts for about a third of global oil output and Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates, is the most common regional refueling point for ships carrying crude from the Persian Gulf, including Saudi Arabia. About 90 supertankers, or 17 percent of the fleet, have single hulls, according to Lloyd’s Register-Fairplay data. Frontline Ltd., the biggest supertanker company, rose 6.1 percent in Oslo.

“This could make trading single-hull tankers a lot harder in the Persian Gulf because there aren’t, at first glance, many viable alternatives” for refueling, Halvor Ellefsen, a tanker broker at SeaLeague AS in Oslo, said by e-mail today. “Any owner who was already considering scrapping will have a larger incentive to do so by this announcement.”

The International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency with 169 members, will implement a global ban on single- hull tankers from next year. Nations can opt out until 2015. The European Union called the ship design “more accident-prone” in 2003 and London-based BP Plc says it won’t hire them because of the risk of leaking, favoring double-hulled ships instead.

“Our policy is clear,” Harbor Master Tamer Masoud said by phone from Fujairah today. “No single-hull ships will be allowed in the port or anchorage from Jan. 1.”

Seven Sheikhdoms

Fujairah, one of seven sheikhdoms making up the U.A.E., serves as the main ship servicing point for vessels traveling between the Persian Gulf, Asia and the Atlantic. Vessels can stop there to refuel, change crews or clean tanks. Tankers go there to await their next cargoes.

Frontline advanced 8.20 kroner, or 6.1 percent, to 143 kroner in Oslo, valuing the Hamilton, Bermuda-based company at 11.1 billion kroner ($2 billion).

“It’s phenomenally good news for the tanker business,” Bjorn Knutsen, an analyst at First Securities ASA with a “buy” recommendation on Frontline, said by phone. The supertanker fleet may shrink next year as a result, he said.

Teekay Corp., the largest operator of mid-size tankers, added 1.7 percent to $22.89 in New York, valuing the company at about $1.66 billion. Overseas Shipholding Group Inc., the largest U.S. supertanker owner, added 4.4 percent to $39.95.

Ship-Tracking Data

About three-quarters of all single-hull supertankers have called at Fujairah in the past year, according to ship-tracking data on Bloomberg. Owners may instead elect to take fuel in Singapore and other Persian Gulf fuel-loading areas may emerge, SeaLeague’s Ellefsen said. State-controlled tanker companies are also able to secure supplies at their national ports.

Removing single-hulled ships from service would buoy freight rates. Returns from delivering Saudi Arabian oil to Japan, the industry benchmark route, have dropped below owners’ costs five times this year, according to data from the Baltic Exchange and Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd.

Derivatives traders use to bet on tanker rental rates for next year advanced 3 percent to 69 Worldscale points after the announcement, Ben Goggin, a broker of the contracts, said by e- mail. Worldscale points are a percentage of a nominal rate, or flat rate, for more than 320,000 specific routes.

Returns from the Saudi Arabia-to-Japan voyage rose 16 percent to $21,584 a day, according to the Baltic Exchange. Shipowners need $11,603 to pay crew, insurance and other costs, according to data from Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd.

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