Asian aframax rates posted the biggest gain in eight months as increased demand for December shipments before the Northern Hemisphere winter reduced the supply of ships.
The rate to transport 80,000 tonnes of fuel from Kuwait to Singapore, the world's fourth-busiest route for such ships, jumped 9 per cent to Worldscale 172.29 on Wednesday, the most since March 27, according to the London-based Baltic Exchange.
Shipping a tonne of fuel on the route costs US$15.95, based on Bloomberg data.
Aframax rates on the Middle East-Singapore route have risen 30 per cent in the past six weeks, boosted by higher bunker prices and shipments of November cargoes.
An aframax ship is an oil tanker with capacity between 80,000 and 120,000 deadweight (dwt).
The surge in rates of supertankers, also known as very large crude carriers (VLCCs), is trickling down to charter fees of smaller ships like aframaxes.
'The VLCC market rate has doubled from last week and that's helping push aframax rates higher,' Katsunori Nishikawa, general manager for chartering at Matsui & Co's shipbroking division, said by telephone from Tokyo yesterday. 'Sentiment is very strong at the moment.'
The hiring rate of supertankers for the benchmark voyage to Japan climbed to Worldscale 167.81 on Wednesday, according to data from the Baltic Exchange.
That's more than double the Worldscale 81.63 rate a week earlier. A supertanker can transport two million barrels of oil.
'If the activity continues, we may see aframax rate at Worldscale 200 next week,' Mr Nishikawa said. 'I've already heard of a fixture done at Worldscale 200.'
South-east Asia is the world's busiest aframax market after the Mediterranean. The Caribbean is the third busiest.
The rate to transport 80,000 tonnes of fuel from Kuwait to Singapore, the world's fourth-busiest route for such ships, jumped 9 per cent to Worldscale 172.29 on Wednesday, the most since March 27, according to the London-based Baltic Exchange.
Shipping a tonne of fuel on the route costs US$15.95, based on Bloomberg data.
Aframax rates on the Middle East-Singapore route have risen 30 per cent in the past six weeks, boosted by higher bunker prices and shipments of November cargoes.
An aframax ship is an oil tanker with capacity between 80,000 and 120,000 deadweight (dwt).
The surge in rates of supertankers, also known as very large crude carriers (VLCCs), is trickling down to charter fees of smaller ships like aframaxes.
'The VLCC market rate has doubled from last week and that's helping push aframax rates higher,' Katsunori Nishikawa, general manager for chartering at Matsui & Co's shipbroking division, said by telephone from Tokyo yesterday. 'Sentiment is very strong at the moment.'
The hiring rate of supertankers for the benchmark voyage to Japan climbed to Worldscale 167.81 on Wednesday, according to data from the Baltic Exchange.
That's more than double the Worldscale 81.63 rate a week earlier. A supertanker can transport two million barrels of oil.
'If the activity continues, we may see aframax rate at Worldscale 200 next week,' Mr Nishikawa said. 'I've already heard of a fixture done at Worldscale 200.'
South-east Asia is the world's busiest aframax market after the Mediterranean. The Caribbean is the third busiest.