Crude tanker rates cratered last week, but owners are confident, Clarksons said.
The shipbroking giant’s fleet weighted average for VLCCs fell over 19% last week, slipping to $43,000 per day, while suezmaxes slipped 18.6% to $49,600 per day.
Aframaxes dropped 6.3% to $58,300 per day.
“For the [VLCC] segment, brokers reported of another slow day out of the Middle East on Friday, while activity in the Atlantic was said to have picked up pace,” analyst Frode Morkedal said.
“Entering a new fixture week, the sentiment among owners is reported to have improved, with the ongoing situation in the Red Sea raising hopes of higher utilisation from vessel rerouting.”
He said crude tankers continue to transit the Red Sea, despite the litany of Houthi attacks on commercial shipping seen over the past several weeks, but noted that could change after a JP Morgan-linked tanker caught fire after being hit with a missile on Friday.
AIS data shows several crude tankers still either in the Red Sea or appearing en route to it.
According to data from Tankers International, several VLCCs were fixed on what it estimated to be money-losing fixtures, including a $13,420 per day charter for Euronav’s 299,421-dwt Antigone (built 2015) for a voyage from the Middle East Gulf to Brazil for Petrobras.
Higher rates were earned on Friday, with the Oman Ship Management-linked 319,439-dwt Habrut (built 2012) reportedly fixed to Sinkor for a mid-February voyage from the US Gulf to China at $63,429 per day.
The tanker pool reported a single fixture on Monday: HMM’s 300,300-dwt Universal Challenger (built 2019) was contracted to Petrobras at $49,167 per day for loading in late February.
