CNSS独家专栏：Tanker players are divided on whether to lay up ships

油轮公司就是否应当停航船舶意见不一

According to an exclusive interview by Lloyd’s List, Frontline’s chief financial officer Inger Klemp dismissed the speculation if big John’s oil transport arm would follow Maersk Tankers to lay up its vessels in the foreseeable future.

根据Lloyd’s List对Frontline公司首席财政官Inger Klemp的独家专访，这家挪威航运巨头John Fredriksen旗下的油轮公司在近期内并没有打算像马士基油轮一样停航部分船舶。

Tanker owners are trying to make a living in a dim market for quite a long time. Lower rates, higher operation costs and impairment on ship values are sinking many reputable companies, the recent bankruptcy of the largest US tanker owner OSG and the restructure of General Maritime, the second largest, a year ago for instance.

油轮船东也在低迷的航运市场中挣扎的生存很长一段时间了。下降的运费，上涨的运营成本还有船队价值的下跌正在击沉许多知名的航运企业，例如最近美国最大的油轮船东OSG申请破产保护和去年这个时候的美国第二大油轮船东General Maritime的破产重组。

Last month, Maersk Tankers announced a plan to be the first in the shipping industry to cold lay up 2 double hull VLCCs in Brunei Bay off the coast of Malaysia. This bid was in sync with Maersk’s strategy to pull out of non core business, i.e. the tanker fleet. The Danish owner had already offloaded 11 handy size tankers to Navigator Gas which in now under control of Wilbur Ross, the king of purchasing distress assets. At the same time, Maersk had also laid up some container ships previously serving the Euro-Asia route.

上个月，马士基油轮在业内首先宣布一项停航旗下2条双层壳VLCC油轮的计划，停航抛锚地点为马来西亚附件的Brunei Bay。这一举措也与马士基集团逐步剥离其例如油轮运输等非核心业务的大方向战略相吻合。丹麦马士基集团已经将所拥有的11条灵便型油轮出售给了Navigator Gas公司，该公司目前的大股东为不良资产收购之王Wilbur Ross。同时马士基也停航了下属的服务于欧亚航线的一些集装箱船。

On the other hand, the New York and Oslo listed world’s biggest tanker owner Frontline pledged to keep all its vessels running, given consideration of the high laid up expense and the slim better market due to Asia’s increasing demand. “If you didn’t lay them up some weeks ago, then you wouldn’t do it today.” Ms. Klemp said.

然后在另一方面，纽约和奥斯陆两地上市的全球最大油轮船东Frontline公司则基于高额的停航费用和目前受增长的亚洲原油需求提振，市场有所好转的考虑，承诺将会保持其全部船队的运营。Inger Klemp女士表示：“我们既然数周前都没有停航我们的船舶，现在就更加不会了。”

However there’s a great possibility Frontline 2012, shipping tycoon John Fredriksen’s new ship owning and newbuilding company after Frontline’s restructuring beginning this year, will cancel its option to contract some of the newbuilding orders, especially the VLCCs in China’s Jinhai Heavy Industry.

但是我认为，Frontline 2012，John Fredriksen在Frontline年初资产重组后新的船东和新造船项目公司有很大的可能取消掉一些有选择权的新造船订单，尤其是在中国金海重工的VLCC项目。

I expect the reduced order book and tonnage, increased oil demand, slow steaming, and possible further lay ups will help tanker owners to survive the cold winter.

同时我也期望减少的船舶订单和运力, 增长的原油需求，船舶的低速航行和未来可能更多的停航船舶会帮助油轮船东平安度过这个寒冷的航运严冬。（By Paris Zhang）

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