Maersk Tankers has reported what it calls its “a highly satisfying” underlying result of $156m for 2015 - of which $150m came from the product tanker sector - and a return on invested capital (ROIC) of 9.9%.

This compares with an underlying result of $138m in 2014, of which $28m was lost on the product tanker segment, and ROIC of 6.8m, that positive result attributable to Maersk Tankers’ sale of its larger VLCCs in early 2014 to Euronav.

“Maersk Tankers has found it difficult to deliver satisfactory results for several years due to very low rates in the market,” the company said in a results statement. “This meant that, a couple of years ago, Maersk Tankers chose to focus on the product tanker market, through which Maersk Tankers expects to be able to achieve the best earnings in the long-term, for example due to the refineries moving closer to the oil wells.”

The 2015 figures, the “best result in years” was a result of rates in the product tanker segment having started moving up “as early as late 2014”, Maersk added - albeit acknowledging that rates in the VLCC segment began climbing “even earlier”.