Rotterdam, Europe’s largest port
Ukraine fallout continues to support tanker freight rates
Freight rates for clean tankers—the specialist vessels that transport refined petroleum products—reached multi-year highs in 2022 and are likely to remain strong going into 2023
Clean freight rates saw “multi-year highs this summer… [that] remained elevated through November, driven largely by the effects of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine”, according to the EIA. Rates for the medium-range (MR) class of clean tankers—the most ubiquitous of product-transporting vessels—even topped those logged early in the pandemic, when the global slump in demand for refined products caused a spike in requirements for tankers to act as floating storage, the EIA states. Tanker freight rates are clustered around common shipping routes, which serve as indicators or even benchmarks for the cost of shipping more generally. "Since February 2022,” rates for voyages involving Russian
Also in this section
21 February 2025
While large-scale planned LNG schemes in sub-Saharan Africa have faced fresh problems, FLNG projects are stepping into that space
20 February 2025
Greater social mobility means increased global demand for refined fuels and petrochemical products, with Asia leading the way in the expansion of refining capacity
19 February 2025
The EU would do well to ease its gas storage requirements to avoid heavy purchase costs this summer, with the targets having created market distortion while giving sellers a significant advantage over buyers
18 February 2025
Deliveries to China decline by around 1m b/d from move to curb crude exports to Shandong port, putting Iran under further economic pressure
