Aframaxes are sailing on longer ballast voyages due to changes in tanker trading patterns brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Braemar.

The distance that the average aframax travels on its ballast voyage is said to have been growing faster than the distance travelled on its laden leg since March 2022.

As a result, the ballast voyage length as a percentage of loaded voyage length has steadily risen over the same period.