Industry Note No. 10 - Floating Storage Opportunity

As we noted in a recent industry note: No. 8 – Plenty of Suitors For These Older Ladies, an increasing amount of spot fixture activity has been carried out by disadvantaged tankers in 2016 year-to-date. Meanwhile, a good amount of older tankers have also been fixed for operational floating storage in the time charter market this year due to a lack of onshore storage facilities. However, over the last few weeks, we have observed a notable shift toward inventory drawdowns from refiners, reducing the need for this type of floating storage. As one cause for floating storage is abating, a new one may be emerging: the recent strengthening of the US Dollar amid “Brexit” has pressured spot crude prices more than forward levels, revealing short-term arbitrage opportunities conductive to floating storage.