“In 2024, new crude oil tanker deliveries dropped to a 36-year low as only 17 new tankers, with a capacity of 2.5m deadweight tonnes (DWT), joined the fleet. Compared to 2023, the capacity
“In 2024, new crude oil tanker deliveries dropped to a 36-year low as only 17 new tankers, with a capacity of 2.5m deadweight tonnes (DWT), joined the fleet. Compared to 2023, the capacity delivered dropped by 74%,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.
During the year, the recycling of crude tankers increased to 1.7m DWT wherefore the fleet ended only 0.2% larger in 2024 than at the end of 2023, the slowest growth in 23 years.
The Aframax and Suezmax segments saw capacity growth of 0.5% and 1.1% respectively. However, the capacity of the VLCC segment fell by 0.2% as two ships were recycled, and no new ships were delivered.
“Deliveries and fleet growth ended at multi-year lows as contracting in 2022 fell to only 3.2m DWT, 83% lower than the last 10 years’ average. This is despite Russian sanctions leading to longer voyages which contributed to a substantial rise in earnings during 2022,” says Rasmussen.
Combined with low levels of recycling during the past couple of years, the minimal addition of new tonnage has driven the average age of crude tankers up to 12.8 years, the highest in 26 years.
Consequently, 19% of crude tankers are now
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