Russian shipowner PAO Sovcomflot (SCF Group) has secured $252m in financing for six LNG-fuelled aframax newbuildings currently under construction.

Foresight Group run by London-based entrepreneur Ravi Mehrotra has bought a1999-built VLCC from John Fredriksen’s Frontline Shipping for an undisclosed sum.

Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation is going back on the ordering trail, announcing a RMB2.14bn ($323.7m) order for seven tankers from Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) over the weekend.

Crude tanker owners need to stop ordering newbuildings if they want markets to improve is the message of analyst Ralph Leszczynski of Banchero Costa.

Russia’s state-owned Sovcomflot has ordered four 114,000-dwt LNG-fuelled ice-class aframax tankers worth a total of $240m at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HSHI) on the back of charter contracts from oil major Shell.

George Economou’s Dryships has re-entered the tanker market buying an aframax and a VLCC.

Tonnage growth in the global crude oil tanker market is signalling trouble as the demand-supply balance is being threatened, according to a recent report by Bimco.