Fredriksen Predicts Tanker-led Market Recovery

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday January 28, 2013

Shipping billionaire John Fredriksen told Bloomberg he expects oil and fuel tankers, particularly product tankers, to lead the shipping industry toward recovery over the next 15 to 20 months.

"I believe most in the products side, not the big ships," he said.

"Those will take much more time."

Fredriksen controls companies including Frontline Ltd. [NYSE:FRO], Golden Ocean Group Ltd. [STO:GOGLO], and Golar LNG Ltd. (Golar) [NASDAQ:GLNG].

Frontline 2012 Ltd., a spinoff of Frontline Ltd., bought 24 contracts for new tankers for $578 million last May, and recently announced it would use part of a newly raised $310 million to buy more ships.

Frontline Ltd. narrowed its losses in the third quarter of 2012 but predicted that the market for crude carriers would be slow and depend on "substantial scrapping of vessels."

Golar is also investing $2.7 billion to double its fleet to 26, with deliveries set to begin this year, and Fredriksen said the company will probably buy half the ships coming to the market in 2015 and 2016.

"We believe strongly in gas," he said.

A recent Bloomberg report on analyst opinions of Golar predicted record profits for the company this year.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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