Vitol has reportedly returned to the period charter market to fix a newbuilding suezmax after staying mostly on the sidelines in the past few months.
Brokers said the trading giant chartered the 158,000-dwt Nissos Koufonissi from Kyklades Maritime for nine to 15 months at $23,000 per day.
The prevailing one-year rate for an eco suezmax is $22,000 per day, according to Braemar ACM Shipbroking.
The scrubber-fitted ship will be delivered from Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries in the first half of 2021.
In 2019, Ioannis Alafouzos-controlled Kyklades ordered six suezmaxes from the South Korean yard for $64m to $66m each. The vessel is believed to be one of them.
Vitol declined to comment on the fixture. TradeWinds has approached Kyklades for comment.
There are expectations that Vitol mounting a return to the period market as many of its chartered ships are being redelivered to shipowners.
“They had been quiet because they took a huge number of suezmaxes on period charters earlier in the year. They had close to 20 ships at one point,” said a London-based broker.
“But they have redelivered most of those in the past one or two months.”
VesselsValue reports that the major charterer has only fixed 13 tankers on period deals since July, far fewer than peers Trafigura and Glencore.
But the company still has a chartered fleet of 35 vessels, including three VLCCs, 10 suezmaxes, five aframaxes, 11 LR2s, one LR1 and three MRs.
“Charterers are now more interested in newbuildings due next year. There is not much appetite for a ship that can be delivered promptly for trading, as spot rates are pretty low,” said a tanker owner.
Overall, the tanker market has been quiet since Monday amid limited requirements for spot tonnage.
Arctic Securities, a Norwegian investment bank, estimated VLCC earnings on the Middle East Gulf-China route at $18,096 per day on Thursday, average suezmax earnings at $2,603 per day and aframax at $320 per day. All have been falling.
With many charterers already off for the Christmas weekend, brokers said tankers owners will need to wait until next week for any upward momentum.
