The Baltic Briefing has issued the tanker report for the 18th week of this year. The report dated 6th May 2022 provides valuable insight into this week’s tanker market dealings, freight rates, and charter activities.
Clean
In the Middle East Gulf, the LR market has continued to drive upward this week. LR2s of TC1 75k Middle East Gulf / Japan climbed 51.43 points to WS288.57 returning just under $60,000 /day round trip TCE. The LR1s have also pushed but with lesser traction. TC5 55k Middle East Gulf / Japan came up to WS307.14 (+WS7.85). A trip west on TC8 rallied about $300,000 to the $4.7m mark.
West of Suez on the LR2s, TC15, the 80k Mediterranean / Japan run again showed encouraging signs and gained another $150,000 to $3.65m this week. The LR1s of TC16 60k Amsterdam / Offshore Lomé, look to have stabilised for the moment after rising 22.86 points to WS219.26, a round trip TCE of $30,401 /day.
In the Middle East Gulf TC17 remained flat around the WS420 mark for the week with activity levels stable. On the UK-Continent MRs saw continued fixing activity pushing freight rates, despite the available tonnage looking to have increased. TC2 37k UK-Continent / US Atlantic Coast climbed 24.44 points to WS327.22 and TC19 moved up to WS340.71 (+27.14). The USG MR market saw its resurgence continue this week driven by sentiment. TC14 38k US Gulf / UK-Continent came up 46.43 points to WS237.14 and TC18 the MR US Gulf / Brazil trip took a larger jump to WS309.29 (+80). The MR Atlantic basket TCE rose from $32,605/day to $42,999/day.
The Baltic Handymax market continues to be tiered for the moment, TC9 30kt Primorsk / Le Havre saw a 25 point rise to WS375 by the end of the week. In the Mediterranean TC6 30kt Skikda / Lavera’s plateaued this week from plenty of vessels available, rates remained in the WS275-WS277.5 region all week, still returning around $37,000 /day round trip TCE.
VLCC
The VLCC sector continued on the downward path with 280,000mt Middle East Gulf/USG (via Cape of Good Hope) being assessed about 1.5 points lower than last week to slightly below WS24.5. In the 270,000mt Middle East Gulf/China market rates fell almost two points to WS44.7 (a round trip TCE of minus $8,300 per day). In the Atlantic, the continued reduced demand kept owners under pressure and in the 260,000mt West Africa/China market rates are almost three points lower than a week ago at a fraction below WS45.25 (minus $6,200 per day round-trip TCE). In the 270,000mt US Gulf/China market the rate has lost another $425,000 and the latest assessment is a little over $5.3m (a round voyage TCE of minus $8,800 per day).
Suezmax
Rates for the 135,000mt Novorossiysk/Augusta fell a further 25 points this week and the latest assessment is at the WS145 level (a round-trip TCE of $41,300 per day). Overnight reports detail an Italian charterer fixing at WS135 for a voyage similar to TD6. The market continues to be under pressure, amid further uncertainty on oil from Novorossiysk post-EU sanctions. In West Africa meanwhile, rates have marginally picked up. 130,000mt Nigeria/UKC is rated 3.5 points firmer at WS79 (a round-trip TCE of $870 per day). For the 140,000mt Basrah/West Mediterranean route the rates have eased one point to just above WS45.
Aframax
The 80,000mt Ceyhan/Mediterranean market saw an improvement this week, recovering eight points to around the WS157.5-160 region (a round-trip TCE of $24,500 per day). In Northern Europe, the rate for 80,000mt Hound Point/UK Continent were flat at the WS155 level (a round-trip TCE of $22,600 per day). In the Baltic Sea, sentiment has led the market to decline heavily again. The 100,000mt Primorsk/UK Cont trip is assessed 72 points down on last week’s rate at around the WS212.5-215 level (a round voyage TCE of $59,100 per day), with more uncertainty on this in light of the upcoming EU sanctions. Across the Atlantic, the Aframax market saw a continued decline with rates for the shorter-haul 70,000mt EC Mexico/US Gulf route falling about 22 points to close to the WS157.5 mark (a round-trip TCE of $11,200 per day). For the 70,000mt Caribbean/US Gulf trip, rates dropped 24 points to WS151.5 (a round-trip TCE of $9,100 per day).In the 70,000mt US Gulf/UK Continent market, rates are down 18 points week-on-week at the WS150 level ($11,200 per day round-tip TCE).
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Source: Baltic Exchange
