The newbuilding market for smaller specialist tankers, particularly those involved in the shipment of petroleum products and speciality chemicals, has been brought sharply into focus with the loss of the Erika at the end of last year. The subsequent regulatory panic has made a number of ship owners take the plunge and invest in new tonnage to replace what have become in the eyes of the authorities 'over-age ships'. Many of these same owners would counter this claim by saying that most of the old tankers in their fleets are still more than capable of trading for several years yet. However, to improve the image of the tanker shipping sector, they are taking advantage of very low newbuilding prices to invest in new tonnage now.
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