VLCC Bookings Hit Six Year-High

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Tuesday July 16, 2013

Bookings of very large crude carriers (VLCCs) hit their highest point in at least six years this month, with 126 of the ships hired to load in July, Bloomberg reports.

The number of bookings, based on data from commodities and freight-derivatives broker Marex Spectron Group, was the highest since the data series began in January 2007.

Rates on the Saudi Arabia to Japan route have quadrupled to $24,939 per day since the end of June, helping owners whose vessels have earned an average of $6,838 per day this year, the lowest since at least 1997.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that global oil refinery throughput will experience an "exceptionally high" increase of 3 percent between July and September compared with the second quarter.

"Bookings are running at elevated records now to be able to deliver crude during the period of peak demand," said Harry Tchilinguirian, head of commodity markets at BNP Paribas.

"We should progressively see some slowing over the next one to two months as refiners would have stocked up on their crude requirements."

In March, the head of trade group INTERTANKO warned that tanker rates were often well below the break-even point, leaving owners in "really dire straits."

Ship & Bunker News Team
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