CMB.Tech posted profits of $93.1m for the fourth quarter of 2024, driven largely by the sale of three suezmaxes completed during the quarter.

The Belgian company sold the 2007-built, 150,205 dwt Selena (now Orinocco) (IMO: 9302994), the 2007-built, 158,853 dwt Cap Victor (IMO: 9321720) and 2008-built, 158,765 dwt Cap Felix (IMO: 9380738) for a total of $70.9m. It also completed the sale of another suezmax, the 2007-built, 158,826 dwt Cap Lara (IMO: 9330874), which will be delivered to the new owner during the first quarter of 2025. That sale will net CMB.Tech an additional $18.77m.

Chief executive Alexander Saverys said his company “unlocked good value as we continue our strategy of rejuvenating and optimising our fleet”.

“CMB.TECH is very well positioned to generate value in 2025 with our diversified fleet of modern and low-carbon ships and a good mix of spot and time charter exposure,” he said.

Those sales propped up profits during a slow quarter for both the tanker and dry bulk markets. Tanker rates failed to gain momentum during the traditionally strong fourth quarter, the company said, although more sanctions and the return of maximum pressure would likely support demand, alongside a lack of tonnage coming onstream in 2025. Just five VLCCs were set to be delivered this year, CMB.Tech said.

The woes of the dry bulk market are well known: a fourth quarter push that simply never arrived combined with a weak start to the traditionally poor first quarter.

The medium term continues to look subdued too. A reduction in Chinese demand for US grain could spill over into larger vessel classes, CMB.Tech said, while iron ore inventories continued to stay high amid a flatlining domestic steel market.

But Saverys said his company was expecting “a reflation of the economy in China, which will be focused on the property market”. Stabilising the property market was “always good for iron ore”, he said.

In addition, the Belgian company said it expected the first Simandou iron ore cargoes to hit the water later this year, along with healthy production forecasts from the big miners for 2025 and 2026. “On seaborne iron ore we are very, very positive for the next couple of years,” Saverys said during an earnings call.

Combined with its demand optimism, the company highlighted an ageing dry bulk fleet and constrained shipbuilding capacity, which would limit fleet growth.

To that end, CMB.Tech took delivery of three newcastlemaxes during the fourth quarter of 2024, as well as two suezmaxes, a containership and a chemical tanker.

The company will take delivery of a newbuilding once a month on average throughout 2025, 2026 and the first half of 2027.