Black Sea crude oil tanker rates stayed firm on Monday as weather related delays in the Turkish Straits tightened tanker availability raising the cost of transporting cargoes.
In previous years, winter weather has regularly shut the Bosphorus and Dardanelle shipping lanes, suspending for days at a time the only navigable waterway linking Russia's vital Black Sea oil ports to the wider world. There have been growing delays in recent days due to heavy fog. [ID:nLDE6A819K]
"Black Sea rates have improved as delays in the Turkish Straits have increased and early positions are hard to come by," broker P.F. Bassoe said. "Owners have taken full advantage of the situation and rates have firmed up."
Aframax tankers, which can carry up to 700,000 barrels of crude oil, in particular normally transport crude oil through the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. Larger suezmax tankers, which can carry up to 1 million barrels of crude oil, are also used on this route.
Rates for suezmax tankers on the Black Sea to Med route rose to W121.54 or $36,557 a day from W114.81 or $31,169 a day last week. |
