Geopolitics, growing oil supply, longer voyages, and disruptions due to sanctions and altered shipping lanes pushed crude oil tanker rates to multi-year highs at the end of 2025. After a dip in January, rates started climbing again this month in what shipping executives described as a fundamental shift in the market for very large crude carriers (VLCC) capable of carrying around 1.9 million barrels to 2.2 million barrels of crude. This shift is a major buying spree from South Korea’s Sinokor shipping group and Italian billionaire…