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LONDON—The cost of shipping Middle East crude to Asia,
the world’s busiest route for supertankers, may rise for
a 13th day because of reduced vessel supply.
There
are 23 very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, fitted with
a double hull available for hire within the next 30
days, according to a report Tuesday from Paris-based
Barry Rogliano Salles. There were 54 a month back.
Even
though oil companies are starting to lease out tankers
they don’t need, alleviating the supply constraint,
“momentum is still there,” Charlie Fowle, a director at
London-based shipbroker Galbraith’s Ltd., said late
Tuesday.
Chevron
Corp., the second-biggest US oil company, hired the
tanker Mayfair for 177.5 Worldscale points, according to
a report Tuesday from Athens-based Optima Shipbrokers.
That’s
3.3 percent above the London-based Baltic Exchange’s
comparable assessment of 171.88 points for voyages to
Singapore.
Mayfair
is fitted with a double hull to cut the risk of an oil
spill. The exchange’s assessment for voyages to
Singapore is for ships up to 20 years of age, including
vessels that are normally cheaper to hire.
Worldscale 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 US dollars a ton, are
revised annually by the Worldscale Association in London
to reflect changing fuel costs, port tariffs and
exchange rates.
Each
flat-rate assessment gives owners and oil companies a
starting point for negotiating hire rates without having
to calculate the value of each deal from scratch.
At
171.88 Worldscale points, owners of double-hulled VLCCs
can earn about $128,126 a day on a 25-day roundtrip from
Saudi Arabia to Singapore, based on a formula by R.S.
Platou, an Oslo-based ship broker, and Bloomberg
marine-fuel prices.
The
price of shipping oil to
Japan,
the price assessment used to settle freight-derivatives
contracts, climbed for a 12th day to the equivalent of
$138,827 a day.
Frontline Ltd., the world’s biggest VLCC operator, said
February 15 it needs $31,400 a day to break even on each
of its supertankers.
Bookings
for VLCCs sailing from the
Middle East to
Asia account for 47 percent of global demand for the carriers,
according to New York-based McQuilling Brokerage
Partners Llp.
Shipments to the
US
and Caribbean, the second-biggest market, account for 14
percent of demand for supertankers. (Bloomberg) |
