Oil-tanker recovery trails market with US export ban

[NEW YORK] The recovery propelling shipping markets is poised to leave crude-oil tankers behind, unless the US changes its 39-year-old ban on most unrefined exports.

Sea shipments of refined fuels are set to expand the fastest since 2010 and demand to transport dry-bulk commodities such as iron ore and coal will rise more than capacity for the first time in seven years, according to Clarkson plc, the world's largest shipbroker.

Demand for crude carriers will advance the least since 2009, as the US produces the most domestic supply in a quarter century and cuts imports for the fourth straight year, Clarkson estimates.