According to McQuilling, with OPEC + gradually turning on the taps and the rebound in demand around the world, supported by the vaccination campaign, the demand for tankers is expected to recover from the current depressed level, advancing in the second half of the year. 2021. The demand for VLCCs, especially, will show a significant increase.

Despite this, the true impact on freight rates and tanker profits will be determined by the behavior of the supply.

This will translate into increased freight rates and profits towards the fourth quarter of 2021 and well into 2022.

Finally, McQuilling developed a mid-market scenario, which considers that the current low level of tanker scrapping, with only 25 VLCCs being phased out per year, is somewhere in the middle, allowing freight rates to continue to rise in the same period of time.