Large tonnage supply and lower tonnage
demand pressured freight rates downwards. Despite
the decline in the number of deliveries in 2012, fleet
capacity remained abundant, and the new influx
of dirty tankers only added to the problem, with a
capacity increase of 5 per cent (OPEC, 2013).
On the demand side, most of the tanker markets bore
the brunt of the weak global economic situation and
the performance of large oil consumers, namely the
OECD countries. Other contributing factors included
a less vigorous Chinese economy and a change in
the energy strategy of the United States, the world’s
largest consumer of petroleum. The United States
started increasing its oil production and decreasing its
imports accordingly (Barry Rogliano Salles, 2013).