Covid-19: Unemployed supertankers are about to get junked on Asia's beaches

On Wednesday, daily earnings for supertankers sailing on the benchmark Middle East to China route were -$1,190, according to figures from the Baltic Exchange in London

Covid-19 is destroying the market for supertankers that deliver about a fifth of the world’s crude oil. The result is likely to be booming trade on the beaches of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, where obsolete ships go to get blow-torched and sold for scrap.

Last week, the 1,200-foot vessels plying the industry’s busiest trade route — from West Asia to Asia —effectively had to subsidise the delivery of cargoes because of how large the surplus of ships has grown.

While the vessel glut has really been in place since when Covid-19 caused oil demand to collapse early last year, it has until