The demand for new crude oil tankers appears to be far from satisfied: the order book for newbuilds is growing. 2026 is already shaping up to be a record year.
So far this year, the order volume for new crude oil tankers has reached 60 million dwt across 234 vessels. The shipping organisation Bimco attributes this primarily to the sharp rise in orders for Very Large Crude Tankers (VLCCs). “This means that 2026 is already the year with the highest order volume for crude oil tankers since records began. High freight rates and the need to renew an increasingly ageing fleet have fuelled this order activity,” writes Filipe Gouveia, Shipping Analysis Manager at Bimco, in a report published today.
According to the report, orders for new VLCCs are already more than double the total for the whole of 2025. A total of 151 VLCCs have been ordered so far this year; they account for 79 per cent of the crude oil tanker capacity on order. The majority of the remaining new orders are for vessels in the Suezmax segment; here too, the order volume for the whole of 2025 has already been reached.
“The total order book for crude oil tankers has now reached 130 million dwt – a record figure representing 27 per cent of the current crude oil tanker fleet. As deliveries are scheduled to continue into 2030, the new capacity coming onto the market will increase gradually until at least 2028. This would represent a significant acceleration compared with the less than 10 million tdw delivered annually over the past three years,” said Gouveia.
The rise in new entries into service is likely to contribute to the renewal of the crude oil tanker fleet. It has been gradually ageing since 2011 – due to declining deliveries and low scrapping rates – with the result that the average age of the vessels now stands at around 14 years. According to Bimco, tankers are typically designed for a service life of 20 years; nevertheless, 22 per cent of the current fleet – equivalent to 105 million tdw – is already older than this.
Of the ship capacity ordered this year, only 2 per cent is expected to be powered by alternative fuels (mainly LNG), whilst a further 17 per cent is designed to allow for retrofitting at a later date. There has been a slowdown in the awarding of contracts for crude oil tankers with alternative propulsion systems; within the total order book, 9 per cent of the vessels are expected to be powered by alternative fuels, whilst a further 30 per cent are designed to be retrofitted accordingly.
Chinese shipyards remain the preferred choice for newbuild orders for crude oil tankers, accounting for 82% of the capacity ordered so far this year. In the current order book, 70 per cent of the ordered capacity is accounted for by Chinese shipyards, whilst a further 25 per cent is accounted for by South Korea – although the focus there is more strongly on the Suezmax segment.
“Looking ahead, the pace of new orders for crude oil tankers could slow down. The order book is already substantial and delivery times are long; as such, the vessels recently ordered are not expected to be delivered for another two to four years. Furthermore, it is uncertain when transit conditions through the Strait of Hormuz will return to normal, which is clouding the market outlook for crude oil tankers,” Gouveia concluded.
