After a brief, promising rally to start the month, VLCC ates continued to cool off on Tuesday.
The Baltic Exchange pegged the time charter equivalent (TCE) rate for a VLCC at $7,466 per day on Tuesday, continuing a slide that began eight days ago when rates began the week at $15,050 per day.
Shipbroker Howe Robinson called Tuesday "an uneventful day".
"There have been the odd quoted cargoes in the [Middle East Gulf] and [West Africa] — but progress has been slow going, with charterers under no immediate pressure to conclude negotiations, in an attempt to drive rates down further," it said.
Data from Tankers International shows a single fixture done on Tuesday, the SM Venus 2 (2020) on subjects to the China National Offshore Oil Corp at Worldscale 34 for a voyage from the Middle East Gulf to China.
VLCCs seemed like they could be headed for a recovery in September, as rates jumped from $2,528 per day on 3 September to $15,056 per day on 11 September — the highest mark since 21 July.
Some in the tanker sector believed a second rate jump powered by floating storage could be on the way, but analysis from Alphatanker suggested that was unlikely, given the lack of oil oversupply.
Further, shipbroking sources told TradeWinds last week that the number of VLCC cargoes had dried up, causing rates to fall across asset classes.
On Tuesday, the Baltic Dirty Tanker Index fell to 433, lows not seen since 2009.
The organisation further assessed suezmax TCEs at $2,331 per day, a slide that began on 14 September when TCEs hit $5,916 per day.
Aframaxes were the only asset class to see a gain, rising to $3,316 per day on Tuesday from $2,821 per day.
