A key indicator of aframax tanker spot rate strength rebounded to its highest level in two months as the market in the US Gulf Coast tempted shipowners to move vessels across the Atlantic.
The Baltic Exchange’s assessment of average aframax spot earnings jumped to just over $17,500 per day on Wednesday, a one-day gain of 6.4% that lifts rates from a 2023 nadir of $7,552 per day on 11 September.
It was a level not seen since 1 August, when rates were taking a bumpy slide from record levels of more than $126,000 per day in November last year.
Howe Robinson, the UK tanker broker, put average time charter equivalent rates for aframaxes at $17,000 per day, an improvement from just $9,656 a week earlier.
Norwegian broker Fearnleys, meanwhile, pointed to gains mostly in western markets, where rates in the Caribbean-to-US Gulf Coast trade jumped 10 Worldscale points in a week to reach WS 90 on Wednesday.
The firm pointed to a slowdown in what had been an active market in the North Sea late last week, tempting aframax owners to ballast vessels across the Atlantic to a hotter US Gulf Coast market.
“Recent US Gulf action has given owners an outlet for vessels sat off Europe wanting a home and with opportunities in other markets there to entertain, would expect rates to remain steady-ish with any movement wanting to be in an upward trend,” Fearnleys said in a weekly note.
“Suezmaxes will be watching with interest … again.”
Mediterranean activity has remained steady, it said.
