Page 30: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 1999)

Market Reports

Latin America's were up marginally, while other exporting areas either stag- nated or declined. The unexpectedly high growth in Iraqi oil exports was def- initely the most dominating factor. With the 2mbd spread close to 50/50

Gulf/East Mediate in the year these vol- umes generated a lot of extra employ- ment for VLCCs and Suezmaxes. After a number of years with declining dis- tances, our calculations indicate a mar- ginal increase in 1998.

Once more we experienced a strong shift from refined products to crude oil.

A typical illustration is the U.S., where crude imports rose four percent and

Circle 114 on Reader Service Card product imports fell four percent.

The Fleet

The total tanker fleet increased by 1.7 percent from 1997 to 1998, calculated on an annual average basis. A small rise in the use of combined carriers in oil trades, and a modest reduction in the non-trading tanker tonnage resulted in a two percent growth in the active fleet.

The active VLCC fleet rose by one per- cent, the rest of the tanker fleet increased by close to three percent The driving force behind the growing fleet was the increase in deliveries from 8 million dwt in 1997 to 12.7 million dwt in 1998.

Removals from the tanker fleet amounted to nearly 8 million dwt.

According to R.S. Platou's prelimi- nary assessments, the capacity utiliza- tion rate for the active tanker fleet fell only moderately from 87.5 percent in 1997 to 86.5 percent in 1998. In the first half of the year the utilization rate stayed at the impressively high level of 88 percent, oil production cutbacks in the second half then shaved off a signif- icant share of tonnage demand, resulting in a significant decline in the utilization rate.

According to the current order book, as much as 23 million dwt of new tankers will be delivered in 1999, which is the highest volume of deliveries since 1976! There is every reason to believe that freight rates will decline to a level which will trigger a scrapping wave.

The preceding was excerpted, in part, from The 1999 Platou Report.

N&T Argonaut: Rates Are

Falling

N&T Argonaut (NTA) reported income before taxes rose to $6.3 million in the first quarter of 1999, compared with $3.1 million in the same period of 1998. While it reported that the tanker market improved in the first quarter, it noted that rates have fallen sharply in the near term, as the improvement in the first quarter was due to a decrease in the pace of oil inventory buildup and longer transport distances as Middle East oil production replaced a fall in Atlantic output.

Benor: Operating Profits

Down To $3.1M

Benor Tankers reported first quarter 1999 operating profits fell to $3.1 mil- lion from $6 million in the same period of 1998. A net loss of $5.1 million, including $3.5 million lost on the sale of fixed assets, compared with a profit of $1.97 million in the first three months of 1998. The reduction in operating profit reflected weaker income levels in all sectors of the tanker market in which the company was active, Benor said. Aver- age net time charter equivalent earnings per calendar day were $12,155 with 82 percent of the total 2,070 vessel days in the quarter covered by period employ- ment. marine and offshore construction and design capabilities to reliably complete any of todays sophisticated upgrade, repair and new construction projects to the rules of ABS, DNV,

USCG, HSE, etc.

AMFELS operates an ASME and API certified fabrication facility for efficiently building process packages for onshore and offshore production applications in addition to

TLP's, SPAR's and other MOPU's (Mobile

Offshore Production Units).

A Leader

In Servicing The

Ofjshore Marine Industry

AMFELS'new 48,000 ton drydock is capable of lifting the largest

Jackup and Semisub- mersible Drilling Units.

Access to AMFELS' modern 130 acre facility is by a 42 foot deep channel, with no height restrictions, from the Gulf of Mexico or the

Intercoastal Waterway.

AMFELS is fully equipped to offer quality service to the marine and offshore industries with large covered fabrication, blasting and machine shop facilities supported by land cranage up to 300 tons, and floating cranes of 700 tons & 150 tons.

Houston Office:

Texas Commerce Bank Building 5177 Richmond Avenue, Suite 1065

Houston, Texas 77056, USA

Phone: 713/840-8811

Fax: 713/840-1198

U.S. Representative

Keppel Marine Agencies Inc.

Main Office:

Port of Brownsville

Highway 48

Brownsville, Texas 78523, USA

Phone: 956/831-8220

Fax: 956/831-6220 • aniVA S13JWV • SS3N3AllliadW03 ISO} • MHO M A1I1VI10 • 3DIAH3S liaVHJU * 301VA S13 J W V • 30 "The Yearbook" Maritime Reporter/Engineering News