Contracting decisions in the crude oil transportation market: Evidence from fixtures matched with AIS data

International audienceIn this paper, we investigate the contracting behaviour of participants in the spot freight market for tankers by analysing the positioning of vessels at the time of fixture. For that purpose, we create a new dataset obtained by merging spatial ship positions, commercial fixtures and technical vessel specifications. Using quantile and quantile fixed effect regressions, we show how market conditions, vessel characteristics and charterers’ preferences affect the fixture location. Our main result is that oil buyers secure tonnage earlier during strong tanker markets and that the geography of trade creates natural decision points that dominate in the spatial distribution of fixtures