Chemical tanker rates could jump in the coming years, says Eitzen Chemical chief executive Per Sylvester Jensen.
Mr Jensen noted that the future for the chemical tanker market was increasingly bright due to the sector’s shrinking orderbook.
“We believe that in the short-term the chemical tanker market will remain challenging, but we do think and believe that the 2012 fundamentals look better than 2011,” Mr Jensen said.
He expected the coming years to see “significant spikes in rates when we see demand spikes”.
According to Clarksons Research Database, the size of the handysize orderbook amounts to 8.7% of the global fleet in tonnage terms. A year ago, the figure was 21.9%, down from 37% the year before.
Eitzen Chemical forecasts that annual fleet growth will remain at 3% until 2014, when it will fall to 1%.