Rising Bunker Prices To Push Worldscale Rates Up

Increasing bunker prices will push Worldscale tanker rates up by around 1.5 percent next year but prices on some routes will fall due to lower port dues and exchange rate fluctuations, the Worldscale Association said. The average bunker fuel price used for rate calculations would rise to $86.50 in 2000, from $82.75 in 1999, but varying port charges and currency exchange rates would mean some Worldscale route assessments fell. Bunker prices have soared this year to around a current $130 a ton from about $55 in February, but the Worldscale assessment is based on an average of the period between October 1998 and the end of September 1999. Worldscale tanker rates from Ras Tanura to Yokohama will rise by as much as 2.8 percent but for Rotterdam by only 1.0 percent, 1.2 percent for the Loop Terminal in the U.S. Gulf and 0.4 percent to Lavera in the Mediterranean. Meanwhile rates from Es Sider in Libya to Rotterdam will fall by 3.7 percent and for Sullom Voe to the Dutch port by 1.3 percent.