French shipbroker BRS believes the reluctance of new VLCCs and suezmaxes to start trading in crude markets is harming the product tanker sector.

The Paris-headquartered shop said newbuildings continue to lift clean cargoes due to "awful" earning levels in their own markets.

"One of the characteristics of the past 18 months has been the number of newbuild large crude carriers which have transported a gasoil cargo from east to west on their maiden voyages," BRS said in its latest market report.