Euronav is now the owner of the world's only two ultra large crude carriers (ULCCs) - the biggest tankers in the world.

All of a sudden, there are deals in the air. The mood at the at last week's Marine Money 2018 conference, held over a span of three days, in New York was ebullient.

The announcement of Euronav’s all-share acquisition of Gener8 Maritime came after years of pounding the virtues of the C-word – consolidation - by Euronav’s ceo Paddy Rodgers.

Euronav is taking over Gener8 Maritime in an all stock merger creating a new giant in the large tanker sector.

Tanker owner Euronav says the delay in implementation of the IMO’s Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention for all large tankers by two years will have little impact on the market.

Euronav has sold one of its oldest VLCC named Ti Topaz for $21m, leading to a capital loss of $21m, an amount similar to the sale price.

Euronav have has ordered two ice-class suezmax newbuildings from Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) for time charters to Valero Energy.

Excess capacity in shipping and offshore will not go away “in a hurry” due to the sectors having witnessing a prolonged period of having access to “too much cheap money”, according to Piyush Gupta, ceo of DBS Group.

The Sea Asia Global Forum will kick-off the conference sessions at Southeast Asia’s largest maritime event on 25 April with top international executives discussing global shipping and energy markets.

Tanker shipowner Euronav saw its first half earnings decreased compared to the year-ago period due mainly to a one-time charge related to the termination of a joint venture deal.