September was a cooler month across all the tanker types as the oil price was at its highest in over a year. The oil price has since come off quite considerably since then.
Interestingly most of the crude oil demand growth since July has come from outside China while the effects of more difficult economic conditions have meant the Chinese consumer has been more cautious. Nevertheless, overall effect for the year will be record imports. The US economy has unexpectedly been stronger than expected this year which has provided support to the global oil trade too.
LNG demand in Asia has waned since August while the European market has been more gently coming back. Vegetable oil markets have trended downwards in recent months. Overall, chemical tanker growth has been neutral.