Drewry's latest (11 April) Tanker Insight saw the Tanker Earnings Index* jump by 69% as activity surged, lifting freight rates across all vessel segments. Chartering activity in the dirty tanker market remained buoyant as 77.9mn tonnes of crude were fixed for shipment, comfortably up on the 65.9mn tonnes fixed in February. Higher crude import demand from South East Asia and the US (ahead of the planned US refinery maintenances) supported the increase in rates for VLCCs (very large crude carriers) and Suezmaxes. A recovery in US demand for West African crude in March underpinned a rate increase for Suezmaxes operating on this route, with rates increasing five points to WS57. Similarly, rates from the Black Sea to North West Europe firmed up by 5% over the month to WS67, helped by an increase in arbitrage returns to ship cargoes from the Black Sea.
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