Tanker rates have continued to cool, coming off the highs reached following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three weeks ago.
The Baltic Dirty Tanker Index ended Friday at 1,127, a one-week slump of lost 170 points, while the Baltic Clean Tanker Index slipped 56 points to 994.
VLCCs did not perform as badly as the prior week — when they hit an all-time low of -$27,893 per day on 10 March — but remained well into the red, falling to $20,292 per day after an initial recovery.
“A difficult week for VLCC owners as charterers quickly took back control with a measured approach of delivering enquiry at a slow and steady pace, never giving owners the chance to build any momentum,” Gibson Shipbrokers said of the market in the Middle East Gulf.
“As the week progressed, the more discounts charterers were able to secure.”
According to data from Tankers International, all but one VLCC fixture this week was loss-making.
The lone bright spot was Zodiac Maritime fixing its 319,778-dwt Red Nova (built 2013) to ExxonMobil for a voyage from Guyana to the UK or continental Europe at a time charter equivalent of $27,668 per day for loading in late April.
For the smaller asset classes, suezmaxes fell $13,674 over the course of the week to land at $43,831 per day on Friday, while aframaxes dipped $16,671 to $35,271 per day.
The two routes involving Russian ports continued to fetch high earnings, though they contained to fall on Friday.
The TD6 reoute for a suezmax sailing from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean dropped but could still earn $85,500 per day. The TD17 trade for an aframax sailing the Baltic Sea to the UK or continent Europe was worth $155,233 per day.
MR tankers calling on Russia and heading to the UK or continental Europe, as measured by the TC9 route, also earned less to close out the week, sliding more than $1,000 to $43,086 per day.
In its weekly market roundup, the Baltic Exchange said high bunker prices played a role in clean product tanker earnings over the week.
The company said LR1s and LR2s both west and east of the Suez Canal at best held stable.
The Baltic’s time charter equivalent assessments for MRs in the Atlantic jumped in the mid-week to a year-to-date high of $24,768 per day before dropping to $23,195 per day on Friday.
MRs in the Pacific followed a similar pattern, rising to $23,986 per day on Wednesday, before falling to $22,085 per day by Friday.
