SSMR Vol. 02: Oil Tankers: Strong earnings, doubling fleet additions

At the start of 2026, the total oil tanker fleet stood at 726.5 million dwt, marking a 0.6% year-over-year increase. In terms of tonnage, deliveries to the oil tanker fleet more than doubled in 2025 to 13.7 million dwt compared to 2024. In terms of the number of ships, however, the increase is only 56%, which suggests that the fleet was primarily expanded with larger vessels.

Prices on the crude oil market were not stable over the past year but instead showed a clear and sustained downward trend throughout 2025, followed by a sharp and abrupt increase in early 2026 in reaction to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. While the beginning of 2025 was still characterized by moderate price levels and fluctuations, these movements gradually faded and developed into a persistent decline. Towards the end of 2025, price movements became less pronounced, yet this reflected weaker market fundamentals at significantly lower levels rather than any form of stability.

The faster growth in crude tanker orders compared with the total fleet brought along a focus on larger vessels, in line with operators seeking economies of scale in a tightening market. This is also apparent from the 2025 additions to the order backlog: The number of new crude tankers orders increased by only 10.4%, while transport capacity rose by 40.6%, corresponding to 51.8 million dwt. 
Besides the sharp rise in raw material prices and transport costs, current geopolitical developments also have a major influence on the development of prices in the newbuilding sector and in the second-hand vessel market. In January 2026, a 5-year-old Aframax tanker, for example, came with a price tag of US$ 75 million. This was more than the price for newbuilding order in the same size class (US$ 72 million), showing the high immediate demand for tanker tonnage. 

The ISL SSMR 2026-2 highlights various developments surrounding the major tanker markets and is available via our Webshop and has just been sent to subscribers.