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
24 January 2025
Domestic companies in Nigeria and other African jurisdictions are buying assets from existing majors they view as more likely to deliver production upside under their stewardship
23 January 2025
The end of transit, though widely anticipated, leaves Europe paying a third more for gas than a year ago and greatly exposed to supply shocks
23 January 2025
The country’s government and E&P companies are leaving no stone unturned in their quest to increase domestic crude output as BP–ONGC tie-up leads the way
22 January 2025
The return of Donald Trump gives further evidence of ‘big oil’ as an investable asset, with the only question being whether anyone is really surprised
