BRUSSELS and New York-listed CMB.Tech reported profits of $98.1m in the third quarter of 2024, down 15% from $114.6m reported in the same period last year.

The company formally completed a name change from Euronav to CMB.Tech in October, as it seeks to transform what was formerly a pure play tanker business.

Those profits were buoyed too, by the sale of two suezmax tankers to a CMB subsidiary as part of a fleet renewal strategy for a total of $61.4m.

Chief executive Alexander Saverys said his company was able to complete “another profitable quarter while executing our long-term strategy”.

“Our strategy of decarbonisation, diversification and optimisation of our fleet is in full swing,” he said.

Saverys wants to transform transition CMB.Tech from Euronav’s pure play tanker operation into a decarbonised, diversified fleet.

CMB.Tech took delivery of eight newbuildings in the quarter, including two containerships, two chemical tankers, three dry bulk carriers and one crude oil tanker.

Its drive to diversify might be prompted in part by what it described as a mixed outlook for the tanker market. An Opec+ production increase would lower prices and stimulate demand from key consumers such as China, CMB.Tech said.

But this would carry the risk of non-Opec+ companies cutting production if demand did not sufficiently absorb the increased supply, decreasing tonne-mile demand and driving down tanker rates.

Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East “are not expected to materially alter the fundamental dynamic between supply and demand in the long term”, CMB.Tech said.

Alongside its fleet renewal drive, CMB.Tech inaugurated a new hydrogen R&D centre in Japan with the aim of advancing hydrogen engine development.