Rates for medium-range (MR) tankers have jumped overnight following the shutdown of a US pipeline yesterday.
Colonial Pipeline closed its main gasoline and distillates pipelines after an explosion and fire in Alabama, which killed a worker and injured five.
This helped tanker rates spike to $15,000 per day from $6,900, Clarksons Platou Securities said.
The shipbroker added that the closure will bring more gasoline imports into New York from Europe.
This is the second time since September that gasoline prices have gone up following an accident.
On 9 September, Colonial reported the biggest leak of gasoline in nearly two decades in the same area of the explosion.
Yesterday’s accident sparked wildfires burning across 32 acres, the local governor said.
“Even if the pipeline is fixed over the next week, the product tanker fleet will be stretched on longer hauls and therefore add support to MR rates for several weeks, in our view,” Clarksons Platou added.
