Charles R Weber News

Trafigura hires five VLCCs to store oil; short-term storage a profitable play. Freight rates for very large crude carriers (VLCCs) could creep higher as more ships are chartered for floating storage and crude oil shipments increase ahead of the northern winter, brokers said. "There might be a slow creep up towards 60 (on the Worldscale measure)," said Ashok Sharma, managing director of ship broker BRS Baxi in Singapore on Friday. "W60 is at least on the horizon. Rates from West Africa to China are already at W56," he added. That came as VLCC rates from the Middle East to Asia gained around 3 Worldscale points since last Thursday, buoyed by growing interest from traders seeking to charter vessels to store oil for one to three months. "The storage play has gained traction.

In the scorching heat of the Caribbean Sea, workers in scuba suits scrub crude oil by hand from the hull of the Caspian Galaxy, a tanker so filthy it can't set sail in international waters. The vessel is among many that are constantly contaminated at two major export terminals where they load crude from Venezuela's state-run oil company, PDVSA. The water here has an oily sheen from leaks in the rusty pipelines under the surface. That means the tankers have to be cleaned before traveling to many foreign ports, which won't admit crude-stained ships for fear of environmental damage to their harbors, port facilities or other vessels. The…

The VLCC market continued to strengthen this week with sentiment supported by both stronger demand and expectations for the October Middle East and West Africa programs to rise substantially from September levels, according to Charles R.Weber Weekly. According to the latest report from shipbroker Charles R. Weber, “in the VLCC market, 35 fixtures were reported this week marking a 9% w/w gain and the most since May. "China made up a large portion of the demand gain as observed from the fact that combined Middle East and West Africa fixtures headed to the country were at a YTD high (though on a four?week moving average basis this week was at a seven? week high)," says the report.

Shipbroker Charles R. Weber is quite optimistic on the future prospects of the VLCC market for 2016 onwards. The demand is expected to remain elevated with spot voyages generating around 940 bln ton-miles per quarter, on average, during 2016 – around 1.0% above our current estimate for 2015, says its latest weekly analysis. Augmenting the impact of ton-miles on earnings is the increasing diverse geographic profile of trade routes; the scenario materialized during 2H14 and has prevailed through most of 2015. This trend is characterized by more long-haul voyages from West Africa, the Caribbean and North Sea, largely to points in Asia.

Suezmax tankers are looking good for a strong 2015 year, before posting a mild downside during 2016, but are poised to accelerate yet again in 2017 on rising deliveries, said shipbroker Charles R. Weber in its latest weekly report (Ref. “Suezmax earnings continued to experience surprising strength during the first quarter of the year with an average of ~$46,951/day exceeding our early-January projection by 15%. Through the full year, we have raised our projected average by 6% to ~$37,200/day. During 2016 and 2017 we project averages of $35,375/day and $31,000/day, respectively”, said the shipbroker. Suezmax earnings have strengthened in recent months…

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.

Bob Fitzgerald, founder of Bunkerfuels, will join OceanConnect's senior management team, effective April 15, 2002. Fitzgerald, who founded Bunkerfuels Corporation in 1978 and quickly led it to a world leadership position, sold the company in 1999, when Bunkerfuels handled over 10 million tons of marine fuel inquiries and closed approximately 6.5 million tons from office locations in the United States, Korea, England and Brazil. Fitzgerald's experience also includes 11 years of service in Chevron's production, drilling and bunker divisions and eight years as manager of the bunker department for ship charterer Charles R. Weber Company.