The international oil majors have been reducing the size of their own oil tanker fleet since early 1980s. Like international oil majors, the Korean refineries are becoming more dependent on tanker chartering rather than tanker ownership for their oil transportation since the 1990s. They also prefer spot charter to time charter and this kind of trend has continued up to now. Consequently, this paper attempted to find the factors influencing changes in tanker fleet composition. To attain the object of the paper, an empirical study is adopted using the ten decision-making factors derived from preceeding studies. The findings are that MARPOL and OPA 90, and transportation costs are the most important factors influencing an oil tanker fleet composition.

• Gihon Bek