Tanker Shipping
Tanker Shipping Recruitment & Executive Search
Specialist retained search across tanker chartering, shipbroking, freight trading, vessel operations and commercial leadership.
Tanker shipping carries some of the most commercially important energy and chemical cargoes moving between producers, refiners, storage hubs and consuming markets.
Crude oil, refined products and specialist liquid cargoes each create their own freight dynamics. Vessel availability, loading windows, refinery demand, arbitrage economics, regional imbalances, port restrictions and geopolitical disruption can all affect where tonnage is required and what freight is worth.
The talent market is equally segmented. A VLCC charterer moving crude from the Middle East to Asia is operating in a very different commercial environment from an MR broker working clean products in the Atlantic Basin. Product knowledge, vessel class, route exposure and counterparty relationships all matter.
Imperium Commodity Search works across the international tanker market, supporting shipowners, operators, commodity trading houses, refiners, oil majors, shipbrokers and other commercial maritime businesses with specialist and senior retained search.
Our searches are built around the market behind the title: vessel class, cargo exposure, trading routes, counterparties, geography and the level of commercial responsibility somebody has actually held.
Understanding the Tanker Shipping Market
Tanker shipping is one broad freight market, but crude, products and specialist liquid cargoes create very different commercial environments.
Tanker vessels move liquid bulk commodities between producing regions, refining centres, storage hubs and consuming markets around the world.
At the largest end of the market, VLCCs and Suezmax vessels are heavily associated with long-haul crude oil movements. Aframax and LR2 vessels operate across both crude and product markets depending on configuration and trade. LR1, MR and Handysize tankers are central to refined petroleum products and shorter-haul regional movements.
The distinctions go well beyond vessel size. Cargo specification, tank coatings, terminal compatibility, contamination risk, voyage length and regional regulation can all determine which vessels and counterparties are relevant to an individual trade.
Crude Oil & Dirty Tankers (DPP)
Crude oil creates some of the largest tanker movements in the world.
VLCCs dominate many long-haul routes from the Middle East, West Africa and the Americas into Asia, while Suezmax and Aframax vessels are prominent across Atlantic, Mediterranean and regional crude trades.
Freight demand is closely linked to production, refinery intake, export programmes, sanctions, storage economics and changes in voyage distance.
Clean Petroleum Products (CPP)
Gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, naphtha and other refined products create a much more fragmented trading network.
MR, LR1 and LR2 vessels move cargoes between refineries, storage centres and consuming markets, with trade flows often responding quickly to refinery outages, regional shortages and arbitrage opportunities.
The resulting chartering market can be highly active across the Atlantic Basin, Middle East, Asia and other regional product markets.
Chemical & Specialist Liquid Cargoes
Chemical tankers move a broad range of liquid cargoes requiring greater attention to vessel specification, tank coatings, segregation and contamination control.
Parcel sizes can be smaller and voyages more complex than conventional oil trades, with multiple cargoes sometimes carried simultaneously.
Commercial experience in this part of the market can therefore be particularly specialist and is not automatically interchangeable with mainstream crude or clean-products tanker experience.
Vessel Classes & Fleet Segmentation
Tanker markets are divided by vessel size, cargo capability and the trades those vessels can access.
VLCC, Suezmax, Aframax, LR2, LR1, MR and Handysize vessels each occupy different parts of the freight market, with some overlap between crude and refined-product trades.
The vessel classes somebody has worked with can be central when assessing chartering, broking and commercial experience.
Chartering, Owners & Operators
Shipowners provide tonnage while charterers secure vessels against physical cargo requirements.
Oil majors, refiners, commodity houses and trading companies may charter vessels directly, while independent owners and operators manage vessel employment across spot, time-charter and contract markets.
Relationships, market information and timing play a major part in how freight decisions are made.
Freight Markets & Price Risk
Tanker freight exposure can also be managed through derivatives and forward freight markets.
Freight derivatives allow traders, charterers and owners to hedge or take positions on future tanker rates across established routes and vessel segments.
That creates crossover between physical chartering, shipbroking, freight trading, derivatives and wider commodity risk management.
The Cheapest Freight Is Not Always the Cheapest Voyage
That distinction matters throughout tanker shipping.
A lower headline freight rate may become less attractive once vessel position, speed and consumption, demurrage exposure, terminal compatibility, cargo specification or voyage timing are taken into account. In clean and chemical markets, the suitability of the ship itself can matter just as much as the rate being quoted.
Charterers therefore evaluate the vessel, the cargo and the voyage economics together.
For recruitment, that creates several genuinely different talent markets. A VLCC charterer working Middle Eastern crude, an MR broker covering Atlantic clean products and a chemical tanker operator may all work within tanker shipping while bringing very different networks, commercial judgement and technical understanding.
The Global Tanker Shipping Market
Crude and product tanker earnings can move in very different directions, while fleet growth and newbuilding exposure vary just as widely between vessel classes.
Tanker shipping is not one uniform freight market. Cargo programmes, vessel classes, trading routes and the regional balance of available tonnage can create very different commercial conditions across VLCC, Suezmax, Aframax, LR and MR markets.
That divergence was particularly clear in 2025. Large crude tankers recorded stronger annual average earnings, while several clean-product tanker segments weakened. During 2026, meanwhile, vessel deliveries accelerated and the forward orderbook became a much more important part of the tanker supply outlook.
Average Tanker Earnings by Vessel Class
2025 average T/C earnings, US dollars per day
| Vessel segment | 2025 average | Change from 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| VLCC | $53,475/day | +63.3% |
| Suezmax | $51,126/day | +16.7% |
| Aframax | $40,882/day | -3.5% |
| LR1 | $29,474/day | -25.5% |
| MR | $18,938/day | -24.0% |
| Handy / Handysize | $19,987/day | -17.1% |
A Strong Tanker Market Is Rarely Strong Everywhere
The earnings comparison shows how differently individual tanker segments can perform even within the same year.
VLCC average earnings rose by more than 60% in 2025, while Suezmax also strengthened. Aframax earnings were comparatively stable, but LR1, MR and Handy averages all fell materially from their 2024 levels.
Those differences reflect much more than vessel size. Crude export programmes, refinery runs, regional product balances, arbitrage opportunities and voyage distance all influence demand for particular classes of tonnage.
The available fleet matters just as much. An MR positioned in the Atlantic product market cannot simply replace a VLCC required for long-haul Middle Eastern crude. Even where vessel classes overlap, cargo capability, trading history, vetting, terminal restrictions and vessel location can determine which ships are genuinely available.
Fleet supply is now becoming a bigger part of that equation. Tanker capacity has continued to expand during 2026, with a substantial delivery programme also scheduled for 2027. At the same time, almost one fifth of the fleet by vessel count is already more than 20 years old, meaning future supply will be shaped by both newbuilding deliveries and the pace at which older tonnage leaves the market.
For charterers, brokers, owners and freight traders, the important question is therefore not simply whether the tanker market is strong. It is which vessel class, which cargo, which region and which part of the freight cycle somebody is actually exposed to.
The headline tanker market can move in one direction while individual freight desks experience something very different.
738.9 Million DWT
Combined Tanker Capacity
Across the main crude and product tanker segments, combined fleet capacity had reached approximately 738.9 million dwt by October 2026.
32.6 Million DWT
Delivered During 2026
Approximately 32.6 million dwt had already entered the tanker fleet during 2026, compared with around 19.5 million dwt across the whole of 2025.
50.7 Million DWT
Scheduled for 2027
The current 2027 delivery schedule is equivalent to approximately 6.9% of the tanker fleet measured in October 2026.
19.8%
Vessels Over 20 Years Old
Almost one fifth of tanker vessels are already more than 20 years old, while close to half of the fleet is above 15 years.
Major Tanker Shipping Companies & Market Participants
Tanker shipping is shaped by both the companies that control the vessels and the companies that control the cargo.
Some of the largest participants are specialist shipowners whose commercial teams focus on employing fleets across spot, time-charter and pool markets.
Others are oil majors, national oil companies and commodity traders. These businesses may own relatively little tonnage themselves while chartering large numbers of vessels to move crude oil and refined products around their physical trading and supply networks.
Product tanker pools add another layer, bringing vessels from several owners under a common commercial platform.
Who Owns the Largest MR Product Tanker Fleets?
MR tankers are one of the biggest and most widely traded parts of the product tanker market. Clarksons data published through Hafnia provides a useful like-for-like comparison of the largest owner fleets and orderbooks in this segment.
MR Product Tankers, 40,000–54,999 DWT
Fleet & Orderbook, March 2026
| Rank | Owner | Vessels | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TORM | 58 | 2.89m dwt |
| 2 | Scorpio Tankers | 46 | 2.27m dwt |
| 3 | COSCO Shipping Energy | 48 | 2.27m dwt |
| 4 | Sinokor Merchant Marine | 45 | 2.24m dwt |
| 5 | Nissen Kaiun | 40 | 2.00m dwt |
| 6 | Hafnia | 38 | 1.90m dwt |
| 7 | CMG Nanjing Tanker | 39 | 1.88m dwt |
| 8 | International Seaways | 31 | 1.55m dwt |
| 9 | Pertamina International Shipping | 23 | 1.11m dwt |
| 10 | Eastern Pacific Shipping | 21 | 1.05m dwt |
Major Fleet Owners & Operators
Frontline
Frontline is a major international tanker owner focused on the large crude and long-range product markets. Its fleet spans VLCC, Suezmax and LR2/Aframax tonnage, giving its commercial teams exposure to some of the largest crude and refined-product freight movements in the market. The company has continued to actively renew and reposition its fleet during 2026, including VLCC acquisitions and disposals.
Hafnia
Hafnia is one of the largest commercial platforms in product and chemical tanker shipping. Its current fleet platform encompasses around 173 vessels, including owned, operated, bareboat and time-chartered tonnage across MR, LR, Panamax and chemical tanker markets. Its commercial pools alone contain more than 170 vessels from Hafnia and external pool partners, making pooling and third-party commercial management a significant part of the business.
TORM
TORM is a major specialist carrier of refined petroleum products, operating across MR, LR1 and LR2 tanker classes. Its fleet had grown to 97 vessels by the end of the second quarter of 2026, with further MR resale and newbuilding vessels scheduled for delivery. That gives the business substantial exposure to both regional MR trading and longer-haul product tanker markets.
International Seaways
International Seaways operates across both crude and product tanker markets. Its fleet includes VLCCs, Suezmaxes and Aframaxes alongside LR2, LR1 and MR product carriers, creating a broader vessel-class mix than many specialist tanker owners. As of August 2026, its operating and newbuilding fleet totalled 70 vessels.
Major Charterers & Commercial Market Participants
Shell
Shell combines one of the world’s largest physical energy trading businesses with substantial in-house shipping and maritime capability. Trading & Supply is active across crude oil, refined products and other energy markets, while Shell commercially manages a large and diverse vessel portfolio and maintains dedicated maritime expertise covering vessel operations, technology and shipping risk.
Vitol
Shipping sits at the centre of Vitol’s physical trading model. The company trades around 8 million barrels per day of crude oil and petroleum products and charters more than 6,000 sea voyages annually. Vitol International Shipping controls and operates vessels alongside the wider chartering requirement created by its global crude, products, refining and storage businesses.
Trafigura
Trafigura operates one of the commodity industry’s largest shipping and chartering platforms. Its shipping division undertakes more than 5,250 voyages annually and has around 400 vessels on time charter on average, covering oil, gas, metals and bulk commodities. Within wet freight, chartering sits closely alongside Trafigura’s physical crude and petroleum-products trading activities.
Saudi Aramco & Aramco Trading
Saudi Aramco combines one of the world’s largest crude export programmes with refining, terminals, physical trading and international logistics. In 2025, Aramco traded approximately 7.4 million barrels per day of crude oil and refined products and exported around 6.3 million barrels per day of crude. Aramco Trading provides the international commercial platform around those flows, creating substantial exposure to tanker chartering and marine logistics.
Source: Company annual reports, investor materials and official corporate information from Frontline, Hafnia, TORM, International Seaways, Shell, Vitol, Trafigura and Saudi Aramco. Company activities, fleet figures and market descriptions reflect the latest publicly available information at time of publication.
Market context: Companies are included as examples of significant participants in the global tanker shipping market. Inclusion does not imply commercial relationship with or endorsement of Imperium Commodity Search.
Owning the Ship and Controlling the Cargo Are Different Businesses
A charterer working for a tanker owner is usually thinking about how best to employ the vessel: where the ship is positioned, what cargo it can lift, the next voyage, the freight rate and what employment leaves the strongest onward position.
A charterer or freight trader inside an oil major or commodity house can approach the same fixture from the opposite direction. The cargo already exists, and the question becomes which vessel can move it at the right time, specification and economics.
Pooling creates another commercial model again, where one desk may optimise a much larger group of vessels than the company itself actually owns.
They all work in tanker shipping, but the vessel class and which side of the charter party somebody has worked on can completely change the experience they bring.
The World Runs on Voyages Most People Never See.
Tanker Talent Across Global Shipping Markets
Commercial expertise follows the vessel classes, cargo flows and hubs where owners, charterers and brokers meet.
Tanker careers are international by nature.
A charterer can sit in Athens, London, Geneva, Singapore, Dubai or Houston while working cargoes and vessels thousands of miles away. The more useful question is usually what they charter, where those vessels trade and whether their relationships sit primarily with owners, brokers, oil majors, refiners or commodity traders.
Vessel class matters too. VLCC, Suezmax, Aframax, LR and MR markets each develop their own commercial networks, while chemical tankers create another specialist talent pool again.
For international search, we therefore follow the freight market rather than simply the office address.
Shipowning, Broking & Commercial Centres
Athens, London, Oslo, Copenhagen, Monaco, Singapore & Dubai
Some of the deepest tanker expertise is concentrated around established shipowning and shipbroking centres.
Athens supports one of the world’s largest shipowning communities, while London remains important across broking, chartering, freight markets and wider maritime services. Scandinavia has long-established tanker ownership, operating and commercial expertise of its own.
Singapore and Dubai connect those traditional shipping markets with major Asian and Middle Eastern cargo flows, creating substantial pools of chartering, broking, operations and commercial talent.
Oil Trading, Refining & Chartering Hubs
Geneva, London, Rotterdam, Singapore, Dubai, Houston & New York
Oil majors, commodity traders, refiners and physical energy businesses create another tanker talent market.
Here, freight decisions can sit directly alongside crude oil and refined-products trading. Charterers may be securing vessels against physical cargo programmes, optimising freight around arbitrage opportunities or managing exposure across several routes and vessel classes.
Geneva, London and Singapore remain particularly important international commodity centres, while Rotterdam, Dubai and Houston bring trading teams closer to major refining, storage and physical supply markets.
Crude Export, Refining & Destination Markets
Houston & Corpus Christi, Dubai & Abu Dhabi, Lagos, Rio de Janeiro, Mumbai, Shanghai, Seoul & Tokyo
Tanker expertise also develops close to the cargo itself.
Major crude-exporting regions support commercial teams around production, marketing and marine logistics. Refining centres create substantial clean and dirty tanker requirements, while large destination markets build expertise around crude procurement, product imports and physical supply.
That can produce strong talent outside the traditional shipbroking centres, particularly within national oil companies, refiners, producers, trading businesses and regional shipping platforms.
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The Office Location Only Tells You So Much
A tanker professional based in London might broker VLCC crude cargoes, Atlantic Basin MR products or specialist chemical tonnage.
In Singapore, one charterer may focus on Middle Eastern crude flowing into North Asia while another manages regional clean-products movements. Houston can mean crude exports, refinery supply, product movements or tanker freight derivatives.
Two people working in the same city may therefore have less relevant overlap than two people sitting on opposite sides of the world.
For recruitment, we map the vessel class, cargo, routes, counterparties and commercial model first. Geography then helps us understand where that experience is most likely to sit.
Who We Search for Across Tanker Shipping
Tanker careers quickly become specialised around vessel class, cargo, route and which side of the freight market somebody knows.
A job title rarely tells the whole story.
A VLCC charterer employed by a shipowner is approaching the market differently from somebody chartering vessels against an oil major’s physical crude programme. An MR broker covering Atlantic clean products will have built another network again.
Even within the same role family, vessel class and trading geography can materially change the experience someone brings.
That is why our searches start with the tanker market behind the title.
Chartering & Freight Trading
Charterers sit where vessel availability and physical cargo requirements meet.
Within shipowners and operators, the focus can be on vessel employment, positioning, freight levels, voyage economics and what the fixture leaves the ship able to do next.
Cargo-side charterers may instead secure tonnage against crude or product programmes, working alongside physical traders, refiners and supply teams. Others combine physical chartering with freight trading and forward exposure.
VLCC, Suezmax, Aframax, LR2, LR1, MR and specialist tanker experience can all create distinct candidate markets.
Typical searches include:
Crude Tanker Charterer · Product Tanker Charterer · Senior Charterer · Freight Trader · Chartering Manager · Commercial Manager · Head of Chartering · VP Chartering
Shipbroking & Market Intermediation
Tanker brokers sit between cargo and tonnage.
Their value is built around market information, relationships and the ability to understand where vessels are positioned, which cargoes are emerging and how the balance between available ships and demand is changing.
Those networks can become highly specific. A VLCC broker may know a very different group of owners and charterers from somebody covering MR clean products or chemical tankers.
Broking appointments can include:
Tanker Shipbroker · VLCC Broker · Suezmax Broker · Aframax Broker · Clean Products Broker · MR Broker · Chemical Tanker Broker · Broking Manager · Desk Head
Commercial Operations & Post-Fixture
Fixing the vessel is only the beginning of the voyage.
Commercial operations teams manage the detail between fixture and completion, working across voyage instructions, ports, agents, documentation, performance, laytime, claims and demurrage.
Tankers add their own operational considerations. Cargo specification, terminal compatibility, vetting, tank preparation, contamination risk and tight loading or discharge windows can all affect execution.
The strongest operations professionals therefore combine attention to detail with a practical understanding of the commercial decisions that created the voyage in the first place.
Relevant appointments include:
Tanker Operator · Vessel Operator · Commercial Operator · Post-Fixture Operator · Operations Manager · Demurrage Analyst · Claims Manager · Laytime Specialist
Freight Risk, Research & Commercial Leadership
Tanker freight also supports a wider market around derivatives, analysis and commercial strategy.
FFA traders and brokers can manage or take exposure to tanker freight rates, while analysts follow vessel supply, cargo programmes, positioning, tonne-miles, refinery activity and route economics to understand where the physical market may move next.
At leadership level, searches can involve running established tanker desks, expanding into new vessel classes or geographies, building teams and taking responsibility for wider commercial performance.
The strongest leaders often understand several parts of the market rather than one role in isolation.
Leadership and specialist searches include:
Tanker FFA Trader · Freight Derivatives Trader · FFA Broker · Tanker Analyst · Freight Analyst · Shipping Analyst · Head of Tankers · Commercial Director · Managing Director
Tanker Experience Becomes Specific Very Quickly
A VLCC crude charterer, MR products broker and chemical tanker operator may all have spent their careers in tanker shipping without working in particularly interchangeable markets.
Move from an owner to the cargo side and the commercial perspective changes again. Add physical freight, derivatives, different routes or responsibility for an entire tanker desk and apparently similar CVs begin to look very different.
That is why we spend more time understanding which vessels somebody knows, which cargoes they have moved, where they have traded and who their counterparties are than simply matching job titles.
The title tells us what somebody was called. The tanker market behind it tells us what they actually know.
Specialist Search Across the Tanker Shipping Market
Tanker search works best when the brief reflects the vessel class, cargo, route and commercial responsibility behind the title.
A senior tanker hire might require established relationships across a particular owner or charterer network, experience with VLCC, Suezmax, Aframax, LR or MR tonnage, knowledge of crude or refined-products flows, or a track record built around a specific regional freight market.
Those distinctions materially change the organisations we need to map and the people we approach.
Imperium works on a retained basis and deliberately limits the number of clients we represent within a specialist market at any one time. That allows us to map the relevant tanker talent properly, approach passive professionals confidentially and search beyond the people already looking for their next role.
Across tanker shipping, that can mean searching shipowners and operators, shipbrokers, oil majors, commodity trading houses, refiners, national oil companies, commercial pools, freight-derivatives businesses, research organisations and other specialist maritime participants.
For Clients
Looking for a specialist or senior hire across tanker chartering, shipbroking, freight trading, operations, freight derivatives or commercial leadership?
We build the search around the realities of the role: vessel class, cargo exposure, trading routes, counterparties, geography and the level of commercial responsibility required.
For Professionals
We do not operate as a high-volume vacancy business. If your background sits within tanker chartering, shipbroking, freight trading, commercial operations, tanker FFAs, freight analysis or senior commercial leadership, we are always open to a confidential conversation where your experience may be relevant to current or future retained work.
Explore Related Markets
Chartering · Shipbroking · Freight Derivatives & FFAs · Shipping Operations, Claims & Demurrage · Ship Sizes & Vessel Classes · Crude Oil · Refined Products · Petrochemicals
