Returns from delivering Middle East crude oil to Asia fell for a fourth day, rounding out the biggest weekly drop in seven weeks, as tanker owners who had spurned unprofitable charters re-entered the market.
Returns for very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, hauling Saudi Arabian oil to Japan slid 19 per cent to a daily US$11,869 last Friday, according to the London-based Baltic Exchange. That completed a 41 per cent weekly retreat. In terms of industry-standard Worldscale points, charter costs for the route declined 4.9 per cent to 50.74 points.
Some owners who had boosted freight rates by declining unprofitable cargoes 'folded their cards and led the market back' to where it's now trading, EA Gibson Shipbrokers Ltd said in on Friday, without being more specific.
Frontline Ltd, the world's largest operator of supertankers, said on Aug 4 that it would anchor vessels and reject unprofitable cargoes, while AP Moeller-Maersk A/S said two days later that it was considering the same strategy.
Their decisions prompted speculation that other tanker companies, including Greek shippers, would also refuse cargoes.
Worldscale points are a percentage of a nominal rate, or flat rate, for more than 320,000 specific routes.
Returns for very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, hauling Saudi Arabian oil to Japan slid 19 per cent to a daily US$11,869 last Friday, according to the London-based Baltic Exchange. That completed a 41 per cent weekly retreat. In terms of industry-standard Worldscale points, charter costs for the route declined 4.9 per cent to 50.74 points.
Some owners who had boosted freight rates by declining unprofitable cargoes 'folded their cards and led the market back' to where it's now trading, EA Gibson Shipbrokers Ltd said in on Friday, without being more specific.
Frontline Ltd, the world's largest operator of supertankers, said on Aug 4 that it would anchor vessels and reject unprofitable cargoes, while AP Moeller-Maersk A/S said two days later that it was considering the same strategy.
Their decisions prompted speculation that other tanker companies, including Greek shippers, would also refuse cargoes.
Worldscale points are a percentage of a nominal rate, or flat rate, for more than 320,000 specific routes.