A strong end-of-year rally in crude tanker rates seemed to confirm the recession that blighted the industry for the past five years has finally bottomed out.
In December, market sentiment took a positive turn when OPEC decided not to cut production to revive oil prices, suggesting that long-haul shipment volumes would be maintained and demand generated through lower prices.
That sentiment pushed up VLCC rates to $78,000 per day to the Far East in December, while some suezmax trades were up around $40,000 per day.
