The tanker market could be heavily impacted by the aftermath of the current energy crisis, as nations could speed up their search for alternative fuels, moving away from their heavy dependance from hydrocarbons. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Gibson said that “with so much short-term uncertainty surrounding the Middle East War, most are focused on the near-term implications. However, the conflict will have lasting impacts, forcing many countries to reevaluate their attitudes towards energy security in terms of free trade and sourcing of essential commodities, alongside domestic energy production and the fuel mix which powers their economies. Yet in a less extreme sense, we have been here before with the Russia-Ukraine War. Here, the loss of energy supplies was primarily a European problem, with the conflict ultimately doing little to reduce Europe’s import burden and ironically making the region even more dependent on Middle East energy. So, with Europe facing its second major energy crisis in the space of 4 years, and Asia reeling from the loss of its most critical suppliers, surely economies around the world will be forced to make major changes to energy policy to avoid ever being crippled in the same way again?”

According to Gibson, “nations around the world have several options. Firstly, the current crisis could accelerate a shift away from imported hydrocarbons….