Q3 var svakt, men det som nå er interessant er de mange prosessene som iverksettes på grunn av IMO2020, kombinert med amerikansk skiferproduksjon og embargoen mot Iran og Venezuela.

I forbindelse med gårsdagens kvartalsrapportering så ble det kommunisert at 1/3 av Frontlines 71 skip har fått installert scrubbere – og at omtrent 50% av skipene vil ha installert scrubbere innen april/mai. Dette betyr at omtrent 11-12 skip (på ulike tidspunkt) vil være ute av markedet i perioden februar/mars til april/mai.

Rederiet kommuniserte at de har en god plan for installeringen gjennom sitt 20% eierskap i Feen Marine Scrubbers (FMSI) - og at installeringen av de nevnte skipene vil starte i andre halvdel av Q1.

Siterer fra presentasjonen:

• “We believe that tanker market fundamentals look encouraging and we have entered a period of substantially stronger vessel earnings. Our strategy has focused on increasing our spot exposure throughout the year and we believe this will be reflected in our results for the fourth quarter.

• During the third quarter, fleet capacity started to show signs of becoming constrained, and rates slowly began to improve. There were obvious factors that contributed to this strength, most notably a continued geographical dislocation between oil supply and refiners, leading to higher tonne-miles. A record number of vessels were out of service during the third quarter due to periodic dry docking or scrubber installation, and this is expected to continue into 2020.

• «The surge in tanker rates at the beginning of the fourth quarter reminded the market of the relationship between vessel supply and freight rates”.

• ….. “the improved tanker market conditions occurred as 61 newbuilding VLCCs were added to the global fleet thus far in 2019. An additional eight VLCCs are scheduled to be delivered this year, with 41 more to follow in 2020 before the orderbook declines to the lowest levels in over 20 years. The removal of the newbuilding delivery overhang, which has put pressure on the tanker market over the last several years, is a significant development, although a surge in new orders can of course quickly change this. The VLCC and Suezmax orderbooks are now significantly below the number of vessels aged 17.5 years and above”.

• «Frontline has one of the largest and most modern fleets in the industry with an average age below four years. We believe we are well positioned for the implementation of the IMO 2020 regulations, for which we started preparation in 2017. Presently, one-third of Frontline's fleet has exhaust gas cleaning systems ("scrubbers") fitted, and half of our fleet will have scrubbers by the second quarter of 2020. We always remain focused on maintaining cost-efficient operations and low breakeven levels, which provide significant earnings potential in a strong market environment».