Oil-Tanker Earnings Face Satellite-Tracking `Nuclear Winter,' Tufton Says

Source: Bloomberg -  Oil-tanker owners face a five-year “nuclear winter” of unprofitable charters as satellite vessel tracking weakens their bargaining power, said Tufton Oceanic Ltd., manager of the world’s largest shipping hedge fund.
Oil companies have an edge in negotiating freight rates as use of satellites to monitor and record ship movements gives them better knowledge of tanker availability, saidAndreas Vergottis, research director at Tufton Oceanic, which runs the $1.6 billion Oceanic Hedge Fund. Shipowners haven’t enjoyed similar advances in gathering cargo data, he said.
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