Fairplay: Uncertainty Rules Tanker Markets

“Doubts will continue into 2011 as markets adjustments to the value of Wordscale rates make an impact. Fewer than a dozen VLCCs have so far been fixed for loading in the Middle East in 2011. They have all been fixed on 2010 Worldscale – primarily because the 2011 books are only just being circulated. Generally speaking trips to the East have risen by about 20%, but it could be well into the New Year before the new rates are applied. Poten & Partners said in a recent note, ‘more than anything else, this annual adjustment means that tanker market participants will have to recalibrate their sense of how much each Worldscale point means on each particular trade in dollars and adjust their commercial expectations accordingly.’ They also say the temporary beneficiaries of the confusion might be shipowners.”