Tanker rates risk remaining elevated as geopolitical disruptions reshape oil flows and tighten effective vessel supply. In this Talking Transports podcast, Heidmar Maritime Holdings CEO Pankaj Khanna joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s Lee Klaskow to discuss crude and product tanker markets. Khanna says freight costs have surged to 25-30% of oil’s delivered cost from 3-5% historically, with one US Gulf-China VLCC voyage recently fixed at $82 million. He sees crude outperforming products given greater cargo availability and says Asian buyers diversifying away from Middle East oil could boost ton-miles. They also discuss the shadow fleet, Heidmar’s asset-light model, dry-bulk expansion and AI, which could allow operators to manage twice as many ships.