Indian Warships Staying in PG, Won't Join U.S. Coalition
Indian warships escorting merchant vessels in the Persian Gulf will remain deployed for the longer term, officials with direct knowledge of the matter said, as tensions between Iran and Western powers rise.But the two ships, backed by surveillance aircraft, will not be part of a military coalition that the United States is assembling to safeguard the waters off Iran near the Straits of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil moves, the two officials said.Since June following attacks on tankers that the United States blamed on Iran and Iran-aligned fighters…
Asia Tankers-VLCC Rates to Dip Before Fuel Oil Fixtures
Worst over for Aframax market as fuel oil cargoes lift rates. Freight rates for very large crude carriers (VLCCs) could slide further before finding a floor and recovering on a rebound in chartering activity, ship brokers said on Friday. Daily earnings for a VLCC charter from the Middle East to Japan have dropped by around $13,500 since May 11 as charterers held back the release of June cargoes and VLCCs faced competition from smaller Suezmax tankers, brokers said. "Suezmax rates are so low now we see charterers splitting VLCC cargoes," a European supertanker broker said on Friday. Charter rates for a Suezmax tanker, which can carry around 1 million barrels of oil…
Crashes in Crucial US Crude Waterway Hit 10-year Low
Serious crashes in the bustling Bay of Galveston have fallen to the lowest level in a decade even as more oil moves on U.S. waterways, official data show, suggesting that better training and equipment are helping avert spills like one in March. The number of crashes in the Texas bay, home to the Houston Ship Channel and the country's heaviest crude, fuel and chemical ship traffic, fell 68 percent to eight in 2013 from 25 in 2011, according to U.S. Coast Guard data obtained by Reuters through the Freedom of Information Act. But the March 22 crash of a Kirby Corp.
