July was not a good month for tanker owners, and even though June provided a bounce in rate levels, doom and gloom returned with a vengeance in July. Rates in the spot crude oil transportation market during July were, for the most part, well below break-even levels, and this, combined with the generally downward trend already seen for most of this year, provided further evidence that owners are probably in for a rough ride for some time to come.rnThe VLCC market in the Middle East Gulf weakened considerably as the month unfolded the rates of WS 35 for West and WS 50 for Japan at the beginning of July declined to the disastrous levels of WS 20 and WS 27.5 respectively by the middle of the third week. Given that chartering activity was steady and that vessels disappeared as a result of charterers' interest in such cheap transportation, we did see an increase in rates to WS 27.5 for West and WS 35 for Japan, but these levels provided little solace to owners.
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