Singapore: Such is the dramatic fall in rates for VLCCs, down 42% in the past fortnight, that energy newswire Platts is reporting some owners are resorting to slow streaming from the Middle East to Asia to soak up extra tonnage.
"Almost all owners are trying to steam [the ships] slow at the moment except the time-chartered vessels," a source with an Asian refiner told Platts.
Fearnley's latest tanker report chimed in on a similar overtonnaged note.
"Even though there was approximately double the amount of VLCC fixing this week, rates in the MEG dropped further as a result of the large number of candidates still awaiting employment," Fearnleys said. "Even though the list of available vessels is reduced from what we saw last week, it is still considerable. VLCCs also had problems gaining traction in WAF where tonnage availability far exceeded demand." [09/07/10]
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