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SCMP Reporter

IF owners of very large crude carriers (VLCCs) and ultra large crude carriers (ULCCs) were scratching their heads last week they must be tearing their hair out now.

  That is because of the difference between feast and famine for vessels operating out of the Middle East Gulf.

  In the past, holidays in Europe or the United States would have affected the market.

  It is now evident that disruption of work in the Far East has a much greater effect.

   The number of VLCCs and ULCCs fixed totalled 11. The figure is less than a third of last week's fixtures, with eight going to the East and three to the West, utilising under three million deadweight tonnes (dwt).

   It can, therefore, be no surprise to anybody that rates took the proverbial bath to where the level for a VLCC to Europe is now worldscale (WS) 45 and to the US Gulf WS 43.5.

   Rates to the East, other than Japan, are between WS 43 and WS 50, while the return for Japan continues to be the most rewarding at WS 55.

   The only ULCC out of this area to the West shows a 2.5 point reduction. There are now 74 VLCCs and ULCCs of 22 million dwt looking for cargoes between now and the first week of March.

   There has been a slightly better uptake of Aframax sizes to the East, where the rate to Singapore remains at WS 110, while an East African destination secured WS 125.

   VLCCs continued to attract charterers seeking to move cargoes out of West Africa, where several such vessels were fixed at between WS 62.5 and WS 67.5.

    The level for the million-barrel size remains basically at WS 75-77.5, depending upon destination. The basic level for the Aframax-size vessel operating in the Mediterranean is unchanged at about WS 107.5 for the cross-Med voyage, although slightly improved rates are obtainable for certain destinations.

     The million-barrel size operating within this area continues to close at between WS 72.5 and WS 75, with about five points premium being obtainable for loading in the Black Sea.

    An even more mixed bag of business than usual has been concluded out of the Caribbean and east coast Mexico this week, with rates being extremely volatile and dependent upon exact size and duration of voyage.

   While an 80,000-tonner was closing from St Croix to the United States at WS 120, a 70,000-tonner loading in the Caribbean for the same destination obtained WS 145; an 80,000-tonner to Brazil received WS 110 and a similar-size vessel WS 105 to Britain and the Continent.

  Bad weather plaguing the North Sea last week has now abated and the rate for 80,000-tonne size has shaded to between WS 117.5 and WS 120 for short inter-British movements.



Middle East Gulf vessels struggle