The paper gives a short historic presentation of the ownership structure for tankers and the history of the tanker market and from its early beginning up to the 1970s. It explains some of the background for the increase in the tanker fleet experienced in the 1970s and the collapse in the tanker market in the mid 1970s. The paper also explains how the structural imbalance created in this period still influences the present tanker market. Further the paper describes the development of the tanker fleet in the 1980s, the changing trading patterns with renewed optimism in the late 1980s and some of the commercial and technical challenges experienced by the ship owners and classification societies in this period. It presents the latest development in trading patterns and expresses a view how this may together with abundant shipyard capacity, and new IMO and OPA 90 regulations influence the tanker market and the availability of tankers. It further gives a presentation of the fleet development including a review of scrapping and ordering, and debates the role of the independent ship owners and the charterers in view of this scenario.
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