Clean Tanker Rates Drop Another 10 Points

Clean tankers in the intra-Asian trades have suffered an eighth week of stagnant trading, causing rates to slip another 10 points to W240 ($15.69 per ton), Singapore brokers said on Wednesday.

"The panel rate (judged by a panel of six brokerages) is around W250, but we think it's much nearer W240 at the moment," said a broker. The benchmark trade from Singapore to Japan on 30,000 ton tankes almost touched W300 in June ($19.62 per ton).

Another Singapore broker pegged the trade at W245 and said to ignore rumors of a fixture this week at W230.

"There's just very little enquiry for ships from Singapore," said the broker.

Singapore brokers were uncertain of the underlying reason, but Olso broker Lorenzen & Stemoco said in a report last week that Asian trades were set to be undermined by Atlantic trades and trans-Pacific trades, which were trading down on slack demand from the U.S.

Rates for long-range cargoes from the Mideast Gulf to Japan on 75,000 ton tankers appear to have stabilized around the W200 mark ($25.48 per ton), following a slip from W230 at the start of June. "It's difficult to judge, because there hasn't been a 75,000 ton fixture in ages, but last week Vitol fixed an 80,000 ton cargo from the Red Sea to Japan at W192.5," said a broker. He pegged the trade on 55,000 ton tankers at W220 ($28.03 per ton).