Small Fuel Oil Tanker Freight Rates Tank
Freight rates for small fuel oil tankers in the Mediterranean have taken a long-anticipated hit. "Demand fell off a while back and there's been a build up of old ships, it was bound to happen," said a London tanker broker, who pegged the cross-Med trade for 30,000 tonners at around W185, compared to W210 two weeks ago. Italian brokers said on Wednesday that rates of W170-180 were currently the norm, and blamed holidays in Russia for a lack of fuel oil activity out of the Black Sea. Traders said on Tuesday that low sulfur was relatively balanced with little in the way of fresh demand and few if any cargoes now available. Cargoes were valued in the $129-$131 cif region. "Low sulfur seems to have been disappearing from the market," one regional trader said.
Exxon Tightens Tanker Chartering Rules
Exxon-Mobil has toughened its policy on using tankers more than 20 years old, shipbrokers said. The company has adopted a policy of accepting vessels more than 20 years old only on a case-by case basis after senior chartering managers' approval. The move mirrors several oil companies' increasing reluctance to charter older tankers in the wake of the break up of the fuel oil tanker Erika in December. Heavy pollution of French beaches resulted from the sinking. A long period of ostracizing older vessels would be needed to drive them to the scrap yards, allowing freight rates to climb as shipping overcapacity erodes, brokers said.
