Maintenance Makes a Difference

The advancing age of the world tanker fleet has been the subject of critical analysis over the past two years. A number of environmental disasters have focused attention on the condition of ships currently in service and their ability to meet projected demand over the next decade. The issues are probably most immediate in the top end of the tonnage range, where a very large proportion of ships were built in the early to mid-seventies.

According to statistics published by RS Platou Shipbrokers of Norway, the total tonnage of VLCCs of 200,000 dwt or over, amounted to 119.6m dwt at the end of March 1991. Of this total, 63.7m dwt, or 53.3%, was built during or before 1975. In view of the age of the world fleet and the possible shortage of suitable tonnage in the mid to late nineties, there have been extravagant claims about the level of new tonnage needed to meet the expected demand.

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