Tanker freight rates
The tanker market, which encompasses the transportation of crude oil, refined petroleum products (clean and dirty products)10 and chemicals, witnessed an equally difficult market environment in 2012. The year saw ups and downs for the tanker industry; this volatility was felt across the board in many ship sizes and as a whole but perhaps slightly less so than in 2011. The average Baltic Exchange Dirty Tanker Index for the full year 2012 dropped to 719 (8 per cent less than the annual average of 2011), whereas the average Baltic Exchange Clean Tanker Index was below 700 (11 per cent less than the annual average of 2011).11 These trends reflect the successive bad years recorded in the oil chartering market, as shown in table 3.3. The sector was affected by a combination of factors leading to overall low freight rates: weak demand, slow imports growth, a change in the structure of tanker demand, new discoveries (e.g. the shale revolution in the United States), high oil prices, and high idle and tonnage capacity.