The Last month of the year has turned out to be a tale with three storylines in the VLCC sector. Story one covers the Middle East Gulf market. In this sector, it seemed clear at an early stage that there were going to be fewer cargoes in December than the 116 deals reported in November. Some predicted 110 and some 100 for the month. The final figure will probably end up in the middle but, whatever the total turns out to be, there were ample ships available. As a result, rates eased back for all voyages. The second story relates to the double-hull versus single-hull competition.There was a larger proportion of older, single-hull ships than double hulls, yet some trades required the secu- ritv of a double hull.
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