BW Maritime, a Singapore-based owner of 15 supertankers, said it temporarily idled two of the vessels and is mothballing a third for a longer duration as earnings plunge to the lowest since at least 1997. “In the short term we are holding them back because we feel rates are too low,” Chief Executive Officer Andreas Sohmen-Pao said by phone today from London, Bloomberg reports. A third 1994-built supertanker is being removed for a longer duration, a process known as cold lay up, he said.
Earnings from the vessels averaged the lowest since at least 1997 in the third quarter, according to Clarkson Research Services Ltd., a unit of the world’s largest shipbroker. They made $11,372 a day in the three months to September, down from $25,928 a year earlier, its data show.
The supertankers being temporarily idled are the BW Lotus and the BW Peony, Sohmen-Pao said. Both are in a bay in Malaysia, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The BW Stadt is the one that will be removed from trading for a longer duration. Earnings from the ships are “dangerously low,” he said in August, adding the company was declining charters.
Earnings from the vessels averaged the lowest since at least 1997 in the third quarter, according to Clarkson Research Services Ltd., a unit of the world’s largest shipbroker. They made $11,372 a day in the three months to September, down from $25,928 a year earlier, its data show.
The supertankers being temporarily idled are the BW Lotus and the BW Peony, Sohmen-Pao said. Both are in a bay in Malaysia, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The BW Stadt is the one that will be removed from trading for a longer duration. Earnings from the ships are “dangerously low,” he said in August, adding the company was declining charters.