Freight

Market Overview

Suezmax catching VLCC fever

Freight

The hugely inefficient STS activities as a workaround to the Strait of Hormuz closure and increased Atlantic Basin arb crudes into the Far East have brought VLCC rates to a meteoric high, with TD3c printing WS1200, equivalent to $35/bbl for the journey from Ras Tanura to Ningbo.

The Suezmax market has caught onto the craziness, with TD20 as a bellwether for this vessel class rising from WS250 at the start of September to now WS878.

The dirty freight market is likely to heat up Aframaxes next, which will then also pull up LR2 rates in the clean side as more vessels look to dirty up their tonnage.