Product tankers continued their 2023 slide this week as tonnage lists continue to build.
The Baltic Clean Tanker Index dropped 56 points this week, falling from 715 to 659 with MR assessments in both the Atlantic and Pacific declining alongside key LR routes.
“The product tanker market continues downwards as tonnage builds up after a cargo slowdown,” Clarksons said on Friday.
“Despite the correction in rates, brokers note that the underlying market sentiment remains firm as owners are starting to put their foot down at the current rate levels.”
The Baltic Exchange’s Atlantic basket slipped from $20,145 per day to $10,894 per day on a time charter equivalent basis week-over-week, a total loss of $9,251 per day.
The Pacific basket fell $5,052 per day from $31,029 per day to $25,977 per day on a TCE basis.
For LRs, the Baltic Exchange said the declines in rates came even as activity levels picked up.
An LR2 on the Middle East to Japan route fell $9,367 to $14,140 per day on a TCE basis, it said, after ending last week at $25,507 per day.
The same ship sailing from the Middle East to Europe slipped roughly 290,000 to $3.22m from $3.51m on a lump sum basis.
One potential bright spot identified by Howe Robinson was LR1s sailing from the Middle East to Japan.
The Baltic Exchange said rates dropped $2,386 to $16,733 per day while the broker assessed a steeper drop: $7,092 to $19,297 per day.
It attributed the drop to the Lunar New Year holiday in the Far East but said volume was strong with 20 fresh transactions on Friday.
“[The] majority of fixing has been short haul where rates remain soft with owners looking to take cover, but the front end of the position list has been kept in check, and availability of tonnage up to 15/Feb (26 ships) has not increased week on week,” Howe Robinson said.
