Supertanker Double-Whammy: Less Volume, Shorter Hauls "The unwinding period is going to be painful. It's happening," warned Michael Fogerty, senior vice president of commercial operations of Diamond S Shipping (NYSE: DSSI ), during a quarterly call on Thursday. Fogerty was referring to the drawdown of crude stocks in Asia that have built up on land and at sea over the past several months. The Asian drawdown hits very large crude carriers (VLCCs, tankers that carry 2 million barrels of oil) on two fronts. Not only is less crude flowing to Asia, but less is flowing on long-haul runs from the Atlantic Basin, slashing average voyage distance. Atlantic Basin Focus "In recent weeks, the Atlantic market has been more active than the Arabian Gulf market in terms of loading VLCCs," said Trygve Munthe, co-CEO of DHT Holdings (NYSE: DHT ), on his company's latest quarterly call. "We're suffering from a very low level of fixtures out of the Arabian Gulf," he said. As a result, America and Brazil "are becoming more important load areas for the VLCC trade." Now, Asian destocking is putting a damper on Atlantic cargoes as well. "You're seeing that long-haul crudes, whether from the U.S.