(June 24): One of the world’s biggest operators of supertankers has provisionally booked a vessel to transport oil from the Persian Gulf to India at nearly nine times benchmark rates, a price that reflects the shortage of available ships in the area.
South Korean shipowner Sinokor will supply the vessel at 897 Worldscale points, or 897% of the freight benchmark, according to shipbrokers. The fee ranks as the highest so far this year, they added, asking not to be named as discussions are not public.
No dates, buyers or ports were mentioned in the provisional booking as details are still being finalised, they said.
Sinokor did not respond to emails or telephone calls to its Seoul and Singapore offices.
Having expanded aggressively in the tanker market since the end of last year, Sinokor has been among the more active players in the Persian Gulf through the war and has continued to market its fleet. One message, seen by Bloomberg and received by brokers on Wednesday, offered VLCCs for the loading of oil from Iraq’s Basrah terminal by June 24.
See also: Oil holds drop as more tankers cross Hormuz after peace talks
The shipowner indicated it would pass through the Strait of Hormuz with the cargo — a sign of confidence in continued flows through the waterway, even as traffic remains constrained.
Eager to balance continued risks around Hormuz and market opportunities emerging after an interim deal was signed between Iran and the US, shipowners have been repositioning their vessels. Some have already begun to redirect their tankers to the gulf, with around 65 empty VLCCs now able to reach the Gulf of Oman within a week. Sinokor owns around 25 of those, according to brokers’ estimates.
Since the agreement last week, four empty Sinokor VLCCs have sailed into the Persian Gulf, based on transponder signals and shipping data reviewed by Bloomberg. Three other supertankers owned by mainstream companies have also entered, adding at least 14 million barrels worth of capacity to the region. An Iranian VLCC has separately sailed into the area.
See also: Hormuz traffic picks up as more tankers broadcast crossings
Worldscale rates, the standard measure of charter fees in the tanker industry, are set yearly for specific routes. Ships are booked at a percentage — also known as points — of this underlying rate.
In this case, the Sinokor booking was based on the rate for the Persian Gulf-to-Singapore route, the shipbrokers said.
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