Key facts
- Supertanker rates reached a record $1.4 million per day for the Gulf to East Asia route.
- A VLCC was reportedly offered $82 million for a U.S. Gulf to Japan journey.
- Ship-to-ship transfers outside the Strait of Hormuz are tying up a large portion of the global tanker fleet.
- Vitol CEO Russell Hardy described the situation as a "shipping crisis."
- Shipbroker Fearnleys noted that regional crude exports from the Middle East exceeded pre-war levels in late September.
Supertanker rates have surged to a record $1.4 million per day for trips from the U.S. Gulf to East Asia, driven by a significant portion of the global fleet being occupied with ship-to-ship transfers outside the Strait of Hormuz. This congestion has reduced vessel availability for other routes, leading to skyrocketing rates across the market.
One very large crude carrier (VLCC), capable of carrying up to 2 million barrels of oil, was reportedly offered $82 million for a journey from the U.S. Gulf to Japan, a 50% increase from just three weeks ago, according to Bloomberg. The increased activity around the Strait of Hormuz is making shuttle-shipping "very inefficient," according to Russell Hardy, CEO of Vitol, the world's largest independent oil trader.
Hardy stated that the market has moved from a crude and product crisis to a shipping crisis, with "not quite enough shipping to go around." The scarcity of supertankers has also prompted a rally in rates for smaller vessels like Aframax and Suezmax as oil producers and buyers seek alternatives. Shipbroker Fearnleys noted in its weekly report that regional crude exports from the Middle East exceeded pre-war levels on several days in late September, indicating strong demand for shipping capacity.