MR product tanker rates have continued to demonstrate huge volatility as an exodus of vessels from Europe in recent weeks caused a spike in rates.
Clarksons Securities pegged eco earnings for these vessels at $38,800 per day worldwide, up 11% from Tuesday to Wednesday.
Owners had seen better earnings outside Europe, moving ships away, according to brokers.
Tonnage in northern Europe was suddenly in short supply, with rates surging 40% in a day on Wednesday between Rotterdam and New York.
Earnings reached $44,400 per day, with cargoes still outstanding.
Clarksons Securities said more vessels are now expected to enter the region, as it has become the highest-paying market.
“This shift in vessel distribution, however, will not happen overnight,” it said.
Based on a triangulated Atlantic voyage, the forward freight agreement market is pricing in MR eco earnings of more than $50,000 per day for the second quarter, Clarksons Securities noted.
Shipbroker Howe Robinson Partners said the European market has since calmed, “perhaps no surprise, given the tight list and the surge in rates”.
“With low levels of enquiry in the US Gulf, a couple of vessels have begun ballasting back from the US Atlantic coast,” the London shop said.
Cross-Mediterranean MR2s are also seeing slower enquiry rates, although tonnage does remain tight up to 23 March, Howe Robinson said.
It expects levels to remain “fairly steady” for the rest of the week.
