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Tanker Brokers News

27 Jun 2019

Shipping Companies: Is Bigger Better?

Š Julien/Adobe Stock

“If consolidation was the solution to all that ails shipping, then container liner companies would be super profitable. They are not. In ‘commoditized’ sectors of the shipping industry, which by now includes pretty much everything apart from very small niche markets, there is hardly any economies of scale at the company level. As long as bigger is not in fact much better, then meaningful consolidation will not happen.”Dr. Roar Adland, visiting scholar at MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics and Professor at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH).Like any other business…

27 Nov 2018

Inside the LNG Shipbuilding Boom

BP Shipping took delivery of British Partner, the first of a half dozen new 173,400 cu. m. capacity liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers to be delivered through 2018 and 2019 from the DSME shipyard in South Korea. (Photo: BP Shipping)

South Korean shipyards have seemingly boxed out rivals from the market for building large ships carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG), winning all of the orders for the next three years worth more than $9 billion.Three South Korean yards - Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries - have won the more than 50 orders placed for new large-scale LNG tankers for delivery in the next three years, according to data from the…

09 Nov 2015

Tanker Futures Market Booms as Rates Rally

Freight forward agreement (FFAs) trade rises. The market for hedging oil tanker freight has revived sharply this year to a value of $4.5 billion after years of torpor, with ship owners looking to profit from a freight rally and more energy companies scramble to cover risk, industry sources say. Cheap oil bargain hunters after the price drop and refineries, which have been operating at unusually high levels to meet rising demand, have helped tanker markets experience their best earnings in years after a long period of losses. Rates for crude supertankers have soared in recent weeks to over $100,000 a day - their highest since 2008. In tandem…

16 Apr 2013

Braemar Opens Crude and Products Ship Broking Operation

Denis Petropoulos

Braemar Seascope said it is strengthening its ship broking activities by opening a new division within the group’s Houston offices focusing on the large crude and products tanker trades. The new operation will launch following the employment of four tanker brokers: Nelson Hebert, Clint DeAtley, Chip Kelman and John Anderson have all come across town to the Braemar office. They will be joined by ex-MJLF broker and past Tanker Pacific chartering executive, Lynne Rutherford.

17 Dec 2012

A Seasonal Tradition Continues for Atobviac

As far as seasonal customs go in the shipping industry, the advent of the New Year’s Wordscale tanker flat rates, currently arriving on desks worldwide, has proven to be one of the most reliable. And again, this reliability extends to the choice of AtoBviaC as Worldscale’s partner in calculating these rates. For the ninth year in succession, new Worldscale flat rates have been calculated using round voyage distances taken from tables developed by AtoBviaC – the BP Shipping Marine Distance Tables - widely recognized as offering the gold standard for distance calculations.

03 Dec 2012

AXSMarine Releases Version 3.1 of AXSTanker

Shipping software company AXSMarine has announced the release of AXSTanker 3.1, an enhanced version of its AXSTanker product. New options will enable Tanker brokers to access AIS and Fixtures information. AXSTanker 3.1 is optimized to produce a great user experience, while integrating two new optional  features. The first feature is a fixture option, which offers supplementary information to users in their bottom panel. This information is proprietary to their company only, which means no other AXSTanker member can see the fixture information they enter: it is fully private. Entering and searching fixtures using the fixture module is also available in the launcher menu, including importantly optional rates and multi-grade entries.

19 Jul 2010

AXSTanker Version 3 Released

AXSMarine launched Version 3.0 of AXSTanker, its internet-based software. Not only will it have an upgraded interface and include a more user-friendly look, but improvements to the functionality of the system will also serve to enhance database interrogation and data retrieval. Brokers looking to search the database can do so now based on vessel draft and beam restrictions as opposed to just using Panamax or Suezmax vessel size search strings. There is a new attach file capability on the system as well as an AIS data, sourced from Vesseltracker, map and history access capability. Equally as important, Q88 files can now be uploaded via the AXS Support system (email to [email protected]) and can be exported in PDF, text or Word formats.

07 Mar 2002

StrategicIMX Completes Shipbroking Desktop Integration

Strategic Software has announced that StrategicIMX can now integrate all users of existing Strategic and Dataworks shipbroking software over the internet. A number of companies are already benefiting from IMX. US-based McQuilling Brokerage and Charles R. Weber are among the tanker brokers utilising the fully functional TankerIMX, a version specifically designed to cater for the tanker industry. E-Jan/DryBulkIMX, the IMX software for companies involved in dry bulk ocean transportation, is being used by NYK Line, Japanese shipbroker Yamamizu and other Japanese, European and US shipbrokers and shipowners.

16 Nov 2000

ExxonMobil Still Chartering Single Hulled Tankers

U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil continues to charter single-hull tankers for its oil, tanker brokers said on Thursday. ExxonMobil has been in the market for a five-year time-charter since late August, brokers said, and has recently been giving serious consideration to a single-hulled very large crude carrier (VLCC) that will be nearly 20 years old by the end of the charter in 2005. Negotiations, however, have recently reached a stalemate, brokers said. "The fact that (ExxonMobil) is looking at single-hulled tankers is widely known, but not widely known outside shipping circles," a London tanker broker said. "We charter both single and double-hull vessels because we believe both configurations offer safe and effective transportation for our products," said an ExxonMobil official.

01 Nov 2000

Oil Freight Charges To Go Higher?

Bloated oil freight charges could surge yet higher this year, adding to the already inflated cost of world oil imports, shippers said. Tanker brokers are predicting a mid-November stampede to ship crude from the Middle East, pushing charter rates to new peaks amid a perceived shortage of quality vessels. In January, very large crude carriers (VLCCs) sailing from the Gulf to Japan were fetching a price of worldscale 49, equivalent to 75 cents a barrel. The rate since has more than trebled and now stands at WS 165, $2.50 a barrel. For a 250,000 ton, or 1.8 million barrel shipment, that means an increased freight charge of $3 million on a $50 million cargo of crude. "Eastern charterers have been paying higher rates," said one VLCC broker. Rates for a 280,000 tonner to the U.S.

29 Mar 2001

Carib Tanker Rates Rise

Caribbean tanker rates are set to jump briefly this week because of a lack of available tankers for prompt cargoes, brokers said. "I can see it getting up to W285 ($11.1 per ton) by the end of the week, because there's simply no prompt ships," said a London tanker broker. U.S. tanker brokers reported that rates had moved up to W275-80 ($10.9 per ton) for 30,000 ton cargoes heading up-coast from Aruba to New York, compared to W266 the day before. Brokers were divided on whether the Caribbean market would be boosted or diluted by the transatlantic arbitrage, which opened at the end of last week. "The shortage will be swiftly replenished by ships doing the transatlantic arbitrage from Europe, so it won't last long," said the London broker. But U.S.

02 May 2001

Supertanker Freight Rates Back on Track

Freight rates for supertankers to Asia, which last week suffered their most serious decline in over two years, have now stabilised and look set to recover, tanker brokers said on Wednesday. One London broker referred to a VLCC fixture, the Lyria, on Monday to South Korea at W47.5 ($0.80 per barrel) as an exception to the market and the lowest point that it would go. "That fixture of the Lyria we can say marks the bottom of the market and we'll see a gradual recovery from here," he said. He pegged eastbound trades from the Mideast Gulf at W57.5 ($0.97 per barrel) and westbound trades at a similar level on worldscale, equating to $1.67 per barrel. Another broker said that after Golden Week in Japan, holidays in Asia and May Day in Europe the market would take a while to warm back up.

09 Mar 2000

Safety Charter Targets Old Tankers, Flags Of Convenience

A backlash against older tankers and flags of convenience, triggered by the December sinking of the Erika off the coast of France, achieved a tangible first step last week with the signing of a Ship Safety Charter by oil majors and ship classification firms involved in the French petroleum shipping industry. The parties signing the three-page document, including TotalFina, Elf Aquitaine, BP Amoco France, Royal Dutch/Shell France, Esso France, ship classification firm Bureau Veritas and petroleum industries federation UFIP, agreed not to use single-hulled ships after 2008 and, effective immediately, to only use ships over 15 years old if they have passed recent intensive inspections.

28 Apr 2000

Tanker Rates Plateau After 90% Surge

Middle East tanker charter rates, up more than 90 percent since the start of the year, appear to have reached a plateau, shippers said. Worldscale rates for chartering a very large crude carrier (VLCC) to transport two million barrels of crude oil from the Middle East to the U.S. Gulf now stand at W82.5-W85, compared with W42.5 at the beginning of January. To Japan rates have risen to W95-W100 from about W52.5. That means the cost of shipping oil to the U.S. has almost doubled to $2 a barrel and surged to $1.50 barrel for crude going to Asia from the Middle East - rates at their highest in two years. Tanker brokers now expect rates to plateau out a little below current levels over the summer until increased oil production coincides with winter restocking in the autumn.

06 Dec 1999

Market Secrecy Bad For Rates, Say Brokers

Increased secrecy in the tanker chartering market may be pushing rates lower, even though many brokers and owners like the idea of doing private business. Although it has always been a secretive business where only a portion of trading was made public, shipping sources say more and more tanker chartering is being done directly through a single broker rather than being put out to tender. However, ship owners and some brokers say charterers are able to dictate rates because they have more information about cargo and ship availability and can influence the perception of supply and demand. Despite this, most tanker brokers generally prefer private business even if it means they cannot compete for some cargoes.

19 Jun 2001

Tanker Market To Hit Record-Breaking Lows

The tanker market is fast approaching record lows, with little prospect of recovery this summer, brokers said on Tuesday. "It's back to the bad old days," said one London broker. "The market's gone down the pan." He blamed the stand-off between Iraq and the United Nations for the stagnation. He said that the 280,000-ton Napa had been fixed from the Mideast Gulf to Thailand in the first week of July at W38, while two others had been fixed to Singapore at W40. He said that not since the market hit W30 several years ago had he seen it so bad. "I don't see any relief this summer," he added. Even if OPEC were to agree to increase output at its next meeting on July 3 to account for the Iraqi stand-off, brokers said, it would take a while to impact on the tanker market.

20 Aug 2001

Tanker Market Looks Glum For September Loading

Tanker markets soared into orbit this week for August loading dates, but remained dull and depressed for September loading, brokers said. London tanker brokers said late on Thursday that they were negotiating North Sea Aframax deals (70-80,000 tons) for August loading at W200, representing a rise of over 80 percent in the space of 48 hours. But September cargoes were fixed at a much more sedate W110. Shell paid W175 for a Statoil owned ship heading to the northern Europe, and brokers said on Friday that W180 ($0.96 per barrel) had also been done. There was no evidence of anything firm at W200. "It is reasonable to anticipate that further gains could be achieved for end month liftings," said London broker Gibsons.

19 Nov 1999

Mideast Oil Exports Needed To Pull VLCC Rates Up

A resumption in Middle East oil exports to the U.S. is required to drag VLCC tanker rates off the floor, shipping brokers said. A late start to seasonal westbound oil shipments from the Middle East is making tanker brokers ask when relief will arrive. VLCC tanker rates out of the Middle East have nose-dived again in the last two weeks due to a lack of activity, to around W42 east (around $4 per ton) and west (about $7.00 per ton). Even when there has been strong tanker demand from Asia over the last month, large tanker rates have failed to take off because of the lack of oil going west, brokers said. "It is a simple formula. The Red Sea-East journey is much shorter than to the West, and allows a build up of vessels returning to the Middle East.

19 Nov 1999

Houlder Sells Holdings In Tanker Broker Panel

Shipbroker Howard Houlder (Chartering) Ltd. has sold its shareholdings in the London Tanker Broker Panel back to the other five members of the rate-setting group, panel managing director Robert Porter said. "Howard Houlder is no longer a panel member," Porter said. Porter said he did not know why Houlder had decided to leave the panel - an independent body providing tanker rate/route assessments, for which fees are charged. Houlder had been in negotiations for some time with Capital Shipbrokers Ltd. to sell its shares for approximately $1.1 million, according to other brokers and press reports. A spokesman at Capital said the company could give no comment on the breakdown of negotiations. No one was immediately available at Houlder for comment.

01 Dec 1999

Secrecy In Tanker Market Said To Be Depressing Rates

Increased secrecy in the tanker chartering market may be pushing rates lower, even though many brokers and owners like the idea of doing private business. Always a secretive business where only a proportion of trading was made public, more tanker chartering is being done directly through a single broker rather than put out to tender, according to shipping sources. But ship owners and some brokers say charterers are able to dictate rates because they have more information about cargo and ship availability and can influence the perception of supply and demand. Despite this, most tanker brokers generally prefer private business even if it means they cannot compete for some cargoes.

29 Nov 1999

Suezmax Market To Be Hit Hardest By Iraqi Export Suspension

Depressed tanker markets will be hit hard by Iraq's decision to suspend crude oil exports for up to two weeks, tanker brokers said. Suezmax tanker rates in the Mediterranean are expected to be worst affected due to the cessation of Iraqi crude loadings at Ceyhan, and any hoped-for recovery for Middle Eastern VLCCs will be delayed. "It will particularly hit Suezmaxes in the Mediterranean because Russian exports have also been cut back," one broker said. Iraq has been exporting nearly a million barrels of Kirkuk oil a day - equivalent to one Suezmax vessel - from the Turkish port of Ceyhan. "There will certainly be no sign of any recovery for VLCC rates," another broker said.

03 Nov 1999

Iran Charters 550,000 ULCC

Iran has chartered a 555,000 dwt ULCC for floating oil storage to replace two VLCCs, tanker brokers said. The 1979-built Sea Giant is scheduled to be delivered in mid November for stationing off Kharg Island to replace the VLCCs Mountain Cloud (285,000 dwt) and Union (275,000 dwt) which will apparently be redelivered. The Sea Giant has been taken by the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) at around $15,750 a day on a monthly basis for up to 150 days, brokers said. After chartering a number of vessels over the summer NITC now has a fleet of 14 vessels, four of which are its own, with a combined storage capacity of around 5.24 million tons.

29 Aug 2001

Tankerworld Expands

expanded its coverage of the large tanker markets. The expansion comes after a surge of interest in the website from key tanker market players. unique analysis of the market. insurers. closely with key tanker brokers and the expert analysis team at Seatrends. The expansion of the site includes a full directory of tanker brokers and agents, as well as extensive search facilities on anything related to ocean going tankers. This is in addition to the existing directories of owners, charterers, vessels and yards. According to Boe, the main attraction of Tankerworld is the interactive tanker fixture section that enables users to discover in some depth the current and past trading history of each tanker. "There are literally thousands of log-ons every day in this sector", says Boe.