These vessels normally have a steady run bringing petroleum products from refineries in the US Gulf into Florida and the southeastern US with refineries in the mid-Atlantic supply needs locally and into the Northeast. As the revelers at the famed Jersey Shore (best known for Bruce Springsteen) enjoyed a delightful Labor Day - the unofficial “end of summer” holiday - with the eastern-facing backdrop at the beach included a group of Jones Act tankers anchored not far off the coast.
An unusual constellation of factors, stemming from Hurricane Harvey, which shut down refineries in Texas, and the upcoming weather event, has brought about a slowdown in the coastwise trades. Mr. Court Smith, veteran oil and tanker analyst at Shipping Intelligence & Analytics, based in Connecticut, explained to Seatrade Maritime News: “Vessels appear to be waiting at anchor as the demand for clean product shipments has slipped now that the Colonial Pipeline is restarting.”
He went on to point out that: “This, combined with the possible impact of Irma on Florida, a key Jones Act market, appears to have reduced the incentive to use US flagged ships.”
Meantime, the time charter equivalent (TCE) of hires in the westbound trans-Atlantic (TC2) MR tanker trades has already backed off; brokers’ estimates on Labor Day (4 September) had the TCE equating to around $16,000 per day- way down from the $23,000 per day seen late in the previous week.
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Add Seatrade Maritime News to your Google News feed.  |
