Blockbuster tanker spot rates keep rolling in, this time with Nordic American Tankers revealing strong fixtures.
Chief executive Herbjorn Hansson touted five recent fixtures with rates as high as $90,000 per day in a letter to investors on Thursday.
"The above fixtures illustrate the strong start of the first quarter 2020, that is well above the last quarter of 2019, on which we have provided guidance earlier," Hansson wrote.
The remaining fixtures came in at $31,000 per day for 25 days, $50,000 per day for 50 days, $65,000 daily for 35 days and $75,000 per day for 50 days.
Last week, the New York-listed suezmax owner said it had booked one of its 23 ships at a $100,000 per day.
Gathering strength
The news comes the day after International Seaways disclosed that its modern VLCCs were fetching average rates of $94,000 per day with 37% of available spot days booked, while its older VLCCs earned $90,000 daily for 54% of available days.
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Both spot charters were considerable increases for the Lois Zabrocky-led company — $37,000 per day and $44,000 per day, respectively — from the first quarter of 2018.
Elsewhere, NGM Energy reportedly chartered a 19-year-old suezmax tanker for as much as $37,000 per day on a one-year deal and booming rates have cut the payback time for a scrubber on a VLCC to just five months, according to Cleaves Securities.
Spot fixture data from Poten & Partners shows VLCCs on the Middle East Gulf to Far East route earning day rates of $60,300, a decline from the 2020 average of $94,900.
Suezmaxes on the West Africa to UK/Continental Europe route were earning day rates of $58,800, down from $63,000.
Aframaxes, however, came in higher than the average at $135,300 daily, above the $124,200 figure for a Caribbean to US Gulf voyage.
