Tight tonnage lists in the east, along with firmer bunker prices and increased volumes out of West Africa and South America, contributed to the rates closing in on the WS60-mark for MEG-WAfrica/east voyages, Fearnleys reported.
Even with the current firmer trend, TCEs for WAfrica/east voyages were still just below $20,000 per day.
We have also experienced a active fixing week with Suezmaxes, especially from Med/Black Sea.
Rates for east destination firmed not only due to higher bunker prices but also due to more delays in the Turkish Straits. TD20 did not benefit from the same development and remained flat, however we expect to see rates increase here as well in the next few days, on the back of firmer rates in other western areas.
The North sea and Baltic markets remained firm over the weekend, and with a decent amount of activity on Monday, rates kept firmed slightly.
Once again, it was the lack of owners willingness to give short options out of Primorsk and Ust-Luga, which made the rates move upward by a few points.
Rates should move sideways going forward, as supply and demand seem to be well balanced.
In the Med and Black Sea, we saw quite good Aframax activity last week.
There are still available ships around, but with the tonnage list looking a bit tighter, owners did a good job in keeping the market at three digits.
Going forward, we expect increasing delays in the Turkish Straits and usually this is a good indicator of higher rates, Fearnleys concluded.
In the S&P sector, it seems that the VLCC ‘Seaways Sakura’ was sold for further trading, as she was reported as taken by Hellenic Tankers for about $18.4 mill.
The 2003-built Suezmax ‘African Spirit’ was said to have been sold to Avin Tankers for $13 mill.
Zodiac was thought to have picked up six Toisa newbuildings at a Chinese yard for $280 mill en bloc. These were three Suezmaxes and three Aframaxes.
Union Maritime was thought to have purchased eight 2005-2006-built Aframaxes from BP Shipping for $108 mill en bloc. The deal was believed to be subject to financing brokers said last week.
Other sales reported recently included the mid-2000s built LR1s ‘Formosa Falcon’ and ‘FPMC P Alpina’ to Asian interests for $8.2 mill each.
The 2013-built BWTS fitted, SS passed MR ‘Great Manta’ was reported sold to PCL for $27 mill, while the 2000-built MR ‘Torm Neches’ was said to have fetched $7.8 mill from Indonesian buyers.
More newbuilding news has emerged this week.
For instance, KNOT Offshore Partners has announced that Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers was awarded a contract to build two new shuttle tankers.
The two 153,000 dwt DP2 shuttle tankers will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries and delivered in 2020.
The vessels were contracted on the back of long-term charters with energy major Equinor and will operate in Brazil.
“We are pleased to announce these new shuttle tanker contracts with Equinor, which further builds on KNOT’s market leading position in the Brazil and continues our long relationship with Equinor, which was established in 1984 when we ordered our first shuttle tanker,” commented Knutsen head, Trygve Seglem.
Elsewhere, Faerder Tankers was said to have contracted two, option two Suezmaxes at Daehan. They were ordered on the back of long term charters to Chevron and will be closed loop scrubber fitted thus Tier III compliant.
The price per vessel was thought to be in the low $60 mill range.
Cukurova Holdings was reported to have placed an order for four Aframaxes at Hyundai Subic for 2020 deliveries.
They will also be scrubber fitted and will cost around $46 mill each, according to brokers’ reports.
In another move, the Hunter Group has said that DSME has agreed to further extend the option agreement for the three VLCCs to 19th October 2018.
Delivery time and price were unchanged at first half 2021 and $92 mill per vessel.
Finally, Croatian shipowner Uljanik Plovidba has reached an agreement on the refinancing of two MRs after securing a discount with its existing lenders.
The company has refinanced an existing syndicated loan issued for the purchase of two tankers - ‘Kastav’ and ‘Pomer’.
In a stock exchange filing, Uljanik Plovidba said that it was granted an approval for the significant debt relief by a group of international banks, led by Credit Suisse, after months of talks.
The new deal is expected to be finalised in early November, 2018.