With May through June of this year recording some of the highest tanker rates ever,
we saw rates in steep decline for the better part of August. An end to Iranian crude
storage in the AG, seasonal slackening of demand for refinery maintenance/turnaround,
a decrease in Eastern inventory, and yes, quite possibly some consumer demand erosion
due to high crude/product pricing all seem to have taken some toll on shipping demand.

Down but not out, the end of August has seen some rebound off the bottom for tanker rates.
Many of the factors that have conspired to make this year one of the bestever for owners -
more double hull fixing in the AG, high levels of FO/crude moving from West to the East
and strong increase of exports from Brazil and East Med, are still strong driving
factors that have not gone away.