By Alex Longley and Sherry Su
(Bloomberg) –With soaring shipping costs comes soaring bills for ships doing nothing.
In the oil-tanker market, day rates for delayed vessels — think taxis waiting with the meter on — have now reached around the $100,000 mark, according to traders and shipbrokers.
Those waiting fees are called demurrage, and it’s not unheard of in some locations for the delays to have reached seven to ten days, eroding the profit on physical oil trades.
Such hold ups aren’t out of the ordinary when factors like bad weather in the North Sea make loadings too risky or Covid controls slow logistics at Chinese ports.
Related Article: Soaring Tanker Rates Pile Pressure on Crude Markets
Recently, two vessels that were due to load Forties oil at a terminal on the coast of Scotland were delayed by almost a week, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Another, filled with crude from Kazakhstan, has been waiting near the Netherlands since Nov. 10.
The global oil tanker fleet has been increasingly stretched by Europe’s looming embargo on Russian oil, forcing cargoes to sail greater distances. That has also made it hard to find replacement ships at short notice, as demand is effectively lifted by the longer voyages.
© 2022 Bloomberg L.P.
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For a sign of just how extraordinary oil shipping costs have become, consider this: It’s now more expensive to hire a tanker from the US to China than to launch a rocket into space.
The United Kingdom on Thursday sanctioned 12 oil tankers it identified as part of Russia's shadow fleet, including the 22-year-old Dakar that is currently making an unusual late-season voyage on the Northern Sea Route.
A potentially significant change at the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has gone largely under the radar, after the regulator confirmed there is no three-year statute of limitations on charge complaints relating to fees assessed on or after 16 June 2022 – leaving carriers exposed to claims that might otherwise have been time-barred.
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