Nikolay Kolesnikov does not know when a true tanker recovery will kick in, but he does not doubt it will.

"I don't think we're trying to second guess the charter markets, that's a futile effort," the chief financial officer of Russian shipowner Sovcomflot (SCF Group) told TradeWinds.

"We're waiting for the recovery on the demand side to pre-pandemic levels and that has taken a little longer than everybody anticipated," he said.