There are 17.5 percent more very large crude carriers for hire over the next 30 days than there are likely cargoes, the median estimate in a survey of six shipbrokers and owners today showed. That’s the same as on Oct. 30 and Oct. 23, according to previous surveys.
VLCCs on the Saudi Arabia-to-Japan voyage, the benchmark route for supertankers sailing to Asia, are losing $1,799 daily, figures from the Baltic Exchange in London showed. Returns were positive in only four sessions so far in the second half. Each vessel can hold 2 million barrels of oil.
The exchange’s assessments don’t reflect speed cuts aimed at reducing fuel costs, the main expense for owners, who can boost returns by slowing tankers on return journeys after unloading cargoes. The price of fuel, or bunkers, slid 1 percent to $615.13 a metric ton, the lowest level since July 26, data compiled by Bloomberg from 25 ports showed yesterday.
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The world’s shipowners have placed orders for a record number of new oil supertankers, surpassing a boom back in 2008 that ultimately led to a glut and a collapse in rates.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he has directed the U.S. government to provide political risk insurance and financial guarantees for maritime trade transiting the Persian Gulf, while signaling that U.S....
A shipowner’s once-in-a-generation wager on oil tankers has made it so powerful that it controls an overwhelming majority of supertankers that can collect American oil next month.
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