Oil-tanker rates end year 23% lower as fleet surplus expands
Returns for the largest oil tankers hauling 2 million-barrel cargoes of Middle East crude to Asia ended the year 23 percent lower, as fleet growth exceeded cargo demand, Bloomberg reports. Rental income for very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, on the benchmark Saudi Arabia-to-Japan route increased 2.5 percent to $12,445 a day, according to the Baltic Exchange in London. The bourse published its last freight assessments of the year today, and will resume Jan. 3.
Global demand for VLCCs will rise 5.2 percent to 147.4 million deadweight tons this year, according to Clarkson Research Services Ltd., a unit of the world’s largest shipbroker. The fleet will swell 8.6 percent to 173.9 million tons, it said. Two more ships were added to the VLCCs available in the Persian Gulf for the next four weeks, commodities broker Marex Spectron Group Ltd. said by e-mail today.
“With sufficient number of vessels available rates should again be steady today,” Marex Spectron said.
Hire costs for VLCCs on the benchmark voyage declined 0.1 percent to 57.91 Worldscale points, according to the bourse. The points are a percentage of a nominal rate, or flat rate, for more than 320,000 specific routes. Flat rates for every voyage, quoted in U.S. dollars a ton, are revised annually by the Worldscale Association in London to reflect changing fuel costs, port tariffs and exchange rates.
Owners can boost returns by reducing a ship’s speed on a return journey after unloading of cargo, saving on fuel costs. The exchange’s earnings estimates don’t reflect speed alterations. The price of ship fuel, or bunkers, advanced 29 percent this year to $653.75 a metric ton, data compiled by Bloomberg from 25 ports worldwide showed yesterday.
The Baltic Dirty Tanker Index, an overall measure of shipping crude that includes vessels smaller than VLCCs, slid 1 percent to 930 points, according to the exchange.
Global demand for VLCCs will rise 5.2 percent to 147.4 million deadweight tons this year, according to Clarkson Research Services Ltd., a unit of the world’s largest shipbroker. The fleet will swell 8.6 percent to 173.9 million tons, it said. Two more ships were added to the VLCCs available in the Persian Gulf for the next four weeks, commodities broker Marex Spectron Group Ltd. said by e-mail today.
“With sufficient number of vessels available rates should again be steady today,” Marex Spectron said.
Hire costs for VLCCs on the benchmark voyage declined 0.1 percent to 57.91 Worldscale points, according to the bourse. The points are a percentage of a nominal rate, or flat rate, for more than 320,000 specific routes. Flat rates for every voyage, quoted in U.S. dollars a ton, are revised annually by the Worldscale Association in London to reflect changing fuel costs, port tariffs and exchange rates.
Owners can boost returns by reducing a ship’s speed on a return journey after unloading of cargo, saving on fuel costs. The exchange’s earnings estimates don’t reflect speed alterations. The price of ship fuel, or bunkers, advanced 29 percent this year to $653.75 a metric ton, data compiled by Bloomberg from 25 ports worldwide showed yesterday.
The Baltic Dirty Tanker Index, an overall measure of shipping crude that includes vessels smaller than VLCCs, slid 1 percent to 930 points, according to the exchange.
