VLCC Spot Rates: A Rare Bright Spot

Dirty tanker rates are in a well-documented and, for owners, tiring slump that leaves earnings levels well below their peaks seen almost five years ago now. VLCC rates have arguably been hit the hardest from peak to trough, although that provides little to no consolation to other vessel classes. In a rare bright spot for the sector, rates for several spot VLCC voyages have bounced in the past week. Worldscale rates for the voyage from the Persian Gulf to the US Gulf (TD1), which have languished in the teens for much of 2013 thus far, threatened to break into the thirties before seemingly plateauing in the high twenties for the first time since a brief spell last fall. Download here