The tanker fleet has grown over the past twelve months by another 203 units amounting to 21.9 million dwt, says Gibson's Mid-Year Review of Weekly Tanker Market Report. This follows a period of very limited fleet growth (across all but the MR sector) following a period of reasonable demolition activity at firmer lightweight prices prior to 2015. Of course the strength of the tanker market during the low oil price regime has meant that owners have had little need to even think about scrapping as bunker prices headed south improving their margins still further. Eco-ships no longer held any significant advantage as legislation on environmental issues continued to keep its distance resulting in demolition numbers falling to a mere 34 tankers (2.5 million dwt) over the past twelve months.
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