The widely-anticipated tanker market recovery in the second half of this year could be derailed as shipowners shy away from recycling old vessels, according to Alphatanker.

Many analysts expect spot earnings of crude and product tankers to rise significantly in the coming months because oil demand recovery remains on track amid vaccine roll-outs across the globe.

But the AXSMarine research unit said it wanted to play “devil’s advocate” and highlighted the downside risk posed by limited scrapping.