Charterers tried to ‘attack’ the rates, but met fierce resistance and rates almost managed to withstand the pressure.
Continued sluggish supply of fresh business may however soften the present rate levels both in the MEG and W Africa, but we see no immediate crash from the current levels, Fearnleys reported.
Suezmax rates for vessels trading out of W Africa remained almost unchanged from last week. Although the tonnage list is ample, a rise in activity out of Caribs/US Gulf led to little more resistance in W Africa as well.
Shorter voyages, for example from W Africa to Spain, have recently paid a small premium on top of TD20. The lower flat rates on these voyages is proving to be a challenge even for charterers, simply because the daily return it produces when it reaches a certain point makes little sense for owners.
Black Sea/Med rates also continued under pressure, due to the slow market, but despite this, we did see a few fixtures concluded for longer voyages going East of Suez.
It has been soft across the North Aframax market this week, as a lot of VLCCs and Suezmaxes were fixing out of strategic Aframax ports. These factors contributed to an even softer tone and added continued downward pressure on rates in the North.
In the Med and Black Sea, the recovery of Libyan production, now up to 900,000 barrels per day, has not had any positive impact on the rates.
Exports out of the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk is at its lowest since February, and we have seen the lowest fixtures concluded this year in the past few days, Fearnleys concluded.
In a boost to the clean trades, freight rates in the US Gulf/Caribbean firmed this week, underpinned by several supporting fundamentals, McQuilling Services said in a blog on Tuesday.
TC3 was assessed at WS195 earlier this week, a 26% rise from June’s opening, while freight on the US Gulf/Carib route rose by $150,000 over the same period.
US Gulf refiners ran at high utilisation with crude intake reaching 17.2 mill barrels per day in the past week, boosting gasoline inventories to 242 mill barrels.
Clean cargoes out of the region have been plentiful with total US product exports averaging at 5.1 mill barrels per month, providing support for tanker demand; however, there is some risk for refining margins building due to a 400,000 barrels per day product inventory surplus forecast for the July-September period.
Weakness in the Latin American refining sector increased import requirements and pulled much of these volumes south towards the Caribbean, Brazil and Chile, McQuilling said.
Refining activity in this region is forecast to increase in the coming months, which may put pressure on imports. However, in the near-term, support could come from the recent shutdown of the 330,000 barrels per day Salina Cruz refinery in Mexico after bad weather caused a fire on 14th June.
An increase in gasoline cargoes has already been seen on the US Gulf/EC Mexico route as Pemex scrambles to meet domestic product demand. Ample cargo supply in the US Gulf and strong product demand to the south have supported increased fixing activity and in turn tightened the position list for July dates, which will likely provide further support for freight rates in both US Gulf and Caribbean.
Some support could also stem from a rally in European jet fuel regrades, which rose towards $2 per barrel higher year-on-year, indicating a potential opening of arbitrage opportunities for transatlantic flows out of the US Gulf.
The US Gulf/Caribbean market is supported by stronger fundamentals in the short-term, which will likely continue the current freight rate momentum, while also considering that inclement weather during the Atlantic hurricane season may provide some temporary upside volatility, McQuilling concluded.
Remaining in the charter sector, Concordia Maritime has signed a contract to charter out the P-MAX ‘Stena Paris’ for one year, with an option for a further year.
The charter runs from July, this year. The contractual partner is one of the world's largest oil and gas companies believed to be Total.
‘Stena Paris’ has been operated by the same customer since 2013 for the transportation of refined petroleum products, mainly in the Asia/Pacific region.
Meanwhile, the latest IMOIIMAX tanker, ‘Stena Impeccable’ was formally named in Rotterdam this week.
‘Stena Impeccable’ was delivered at the beginning of March this year after which she sailed from China to Australia with a cargo of caustic soda. She then carried vegetable oil from New Guinea via Singapore and the Suez Canal to Rotterdam.
After the naming ceremony, the vessel left Rotterdam for Brake in Germany where she will discharge the remainder of her cargo.
The vessel is wholly owned by Stena Bulk, operated by Stena Weco and sails in the company’s global logistics system, which currently employs around 60 vessels.
Six of the 13 IMOIIMAX tankers are wholly owned by Stena Bulk, four together with GAR (Golden Agri Resources), two by Stena Bulk’s sister company Concordia Maritime and one in a partnership with Weco.
Ten tankers have so far been delivered and the remaining three will be delivered by 2018.
Brokers reported that the LR2 ‘Amorea’ was fixed to ST Shipping for 12 months at $14,750 per day, plus a 12 months option.
Reports also surfaced of MR newbuildings.
For example, Enterprises Shipping & Trading was believed to have contracted four MRs at STX for $32 mill each, while Navig8 was thought to have negotiated four, option four, MRs at New Times possibly as a leasing deal and Sea Pioneer was rumoured to have ordered two at Hyundai Mipo.
In the S&P segment, Eurotankers was thought to have purchased the 2005-buit Suezmax ‘Hrvatska’ for $20 mill, while Bakri Navigation was said to have taken the 2003-built LR2 ‘Silvaplana’ for $13 mill.
The 2002-built MR ‘Jenny’ was thought sold to Indonesian interests for $9.5 mill, while another Maersk Handy- ‘Maersk Rhode Island’ - was reported sold to unknown interests for $8.5 mill.
Reported leaving the fleet were the 1996-built Panamax ‘Stavroniki’ said to have been sold to Bangladesh breakers for $375 per ldt and the 1992-built MR ‘Palenque 1’ also sold to Bangladesh interests for $350 per ldt.
Brokers also reported the sale of the 1988-built 80,000 dwt products tanker ‘Theresa Arctic’ to unknown recyclers for $350 per ldt. However, the vessel remains aground near Mombasa (see separate story).