Tanker rates snap slide as ship supplies shrink
The cost of transporting Middle East crude to Asia on supertankers snapped a nine-day slide as the number of spare vessels dwindled.
The number of vessels available for hire next month has shrunk about 8per cent since June29 because of a series of bookings that day, according to a report yesterday by Paris-based shipbrokers Barry Rogliano Salles.
There were 99 tankers free yesterday, compared with 108 on June 29. 'It looks like it's bottomed out,' shipbroker Halvor Ellefsen of Sealeague AS said. Freight rates for very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, on the benchmark route to Japan rose to 60.1 Worldscale points on June29, the last assessment available from London's Baltic Exchange.
Worldscale points are a percentage of a nominal rate, or flat rate, for a specific route. Flat rates are revised annually by the Worldscale Association in London to reflect changing fuel costs, port tariffs and exchange rates.
At 60.1 Worldscale points, owners of modern VLCCs can earn about US$31,037 a day on a 38-day round trip from Saudi Arabia to South Korea, based on a formula by RS Platou, an Oslo-based shipbroker, and Bloomberg bunker prices.
The number of vessels available for hire next month has shrunk about 8per cent since June29 because of a series of bookings that day, according to a report yesterday by Paris-based shipbrokers Barry Rogliano Salles.
There were 99 tankers free yesterday, compared with 108 on June 29. 'It looks like it's bottomed out,' shipbroker Halvor Ellefsen of Sealeague AS said. Freight rates for very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, on the benchmark route to Japan rose to 60.1 Worldscale points on June29, the last assessment available from London's Baltic Exchange.
Worldscale points are a percentage of a nominal rate, or flat rate, for a specific route. Flat rates are revised annually by the Worldscale Association in London to reflect changing fuel costs, port tariffs and exchange rates.
At 60.1 Worldscale points, owners of modern VLCCs can earn about US$31,037 a day on a 38-day round trip from Saudi Arabia to South Korea, based on a formula by RS Platou, an Oslo-based shipbroker, and Bloomberg bunker prices.