Tanker Shipping & Trade conference 2020: learning from Covid-19

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has placed severe restrictions on gala events like the Tanker Shipping & Trade conference. The UK is currently under social distancing restrictions, with no more than six people allowed to assemble in one spot.

Fortunately, almost as soon as Covid-19 made its presence known, Riviera Maritime Media rapidly moved towards producing webinars. The organisation has gained a vast amount of experience in this field, producing an average of one webinar per day over recent months. We are now using that knowledge to producing virtual conferences, at the heart of which will be safe, Covid-free networking.

Another change to this year’s event is its extension to three days. This will give attendees sufficient breaks, allowing delegates and speakers to attend to other business from their desks, be it at home or in the office.

The 2020 agenda will follow a similar format to that of 2019 and will be finalised closer to the event itself, with details available at www.rivieramm.com/events/tanker-shipping-and-trade-conference. Please note, the conference will start at 13.00 GMT.

The first day of the Tanker Shipping & Trade conference will be given over to a broader view of the tanker industry, with sessions on geopolitical stresses on the tanker market, the impact of storage and forecasts for the different tanker sectors.

By the time of the conference, one of the big unknowns will have been clarified: the outcome of the US election. President Trump and Vice-President Biden have very different views on the future of the oil industry. President Trump fast-tracked the approval of the Dakota Access Pipeline and gave approval to advance the Keystone XL pipeline. He also boosted domestic fracking and reduced environmental legislation, including fuel consumption targets.

His overseas policy has included the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change and the application of strong measures against Iran, Venezuela and China. If Trump wins another term, further roll-backs on oil and gas legislation are likely and the tough stance on Iran, Venezuela and China will continue.

Vice-President Biden is known to prefer less fracking, an increase in oil industry oversight and a reversion to stronger environmental legislation. Permission for the Keystone XL pipeline would likely be withdrawn under his presidency and a rise in corporate taxes may also be on the agenda.

On foreign policy, Vice-President Biden has indicated that the US would sign the Paris Agreement and re-engage on Iran, Venezuela and China. Overall, a President Trump re-election would maintain the current soft conditions for the oil and gas industry, while a Biden victory would see greater emphasis on climate change, renewable energy and reduced dependency on oil and gas, ultimately leading to a reduction in tanker tonne-mile demand.

A discussion on the impact of the outcome of the US election will be a highlight of the first day of the conference.