Idan Ofer’s Eastern Pacific Shipping has secured one-year charters for two of its aframax tankers as spot rates remain weak amid listless trading.
The Singapore-based owner recently fixed the 105,000-dwt Nectar Sea (built 2008) and Serene Sea (built 2009) to Aramco Trading for 12 months at $19,000 per day, brokers reported.
The trading arm of oil giant Saudi Aramco is due to take delivery of the scrubber-fitted ships in China this month.
Both companies declined to comment on the fixtures.
The reported rate is in line with market level. Shipbroker Braemar ACM estimates the one-year rate for non-eco aframaxes at $19,000 per day.
Earlier this month, TradeWinds reported that Eastern Pacific managed to find long-term employment for its two dual-fuelled LR2 newbuildings that are under construction at China’s New Times Shipbuilding.
The 110,000-dwt product carriers, which are scheduled for delivery in the last quarter of 2021, were chartered to Gunvor subsidiary Clearlake Shipping for five years at unknown rates.
Eastern Pacific is believed to have been the first shipping company to invest in LR2 ships that can run on both LNG and conventional fuels.
Weak trade
Spot aframax earnings have been hovering close to multi-year low levels in recent months, with a general lack of activity on main trading lanes due to Opec+ cuts.
Clarksons Platou Securities assessed global average earnings at $8,200 per day on Wednesday, down 15.3% over the past week.
“The aframax market has experienced another uneventful and uninspiring week, with north European tonnage supply once more [outpacing] the number of cargoes in the region,” brokerage Intermodal said in a research note.
Looking forward, many analysts believe crude tanker rates will stay depressed for several quarters before the destocking in oil markets is completed.
While recent talks of floating storage amid widening oil contango have supported sentiment among VLCC owners this week, few traders are expected to charter more aframaxes to store crude due to higher unit costs.
Kpler data showed 38m barrels of crude were stored on aframaxes for seven days or more as of Wednesday, down from 43.3m barrels on 3 September.
