The Washington Post: Fuel Ships Take 4,000-Mile Africa Detour as Oil Prices Plunge

02 Sep 2015: “Extended journeys help owners because they keep ships employed for longer, effectively cutting fleet supply. As well as lower fuel prices, traders also like the option of selling cargoes en route, to West Africa, for example, where demand is rising, and to other regions including Latin America, according to Erik Broekhuizen, the head of tanker research and consulting at Poten & Partners Inc. in New York. “The trend to sail around Africa could intensify if the price slides to new lows, reducing fuel costs further and as more export refineries come on stream, in particular in the Middle East and countries like India, Broekhuizen said. That would increase demand for long-range product carriers. “‘Low fuel prices make the longer route around the Cape increasingly competitive relative to the Suez Canal,’ Broekhuizen said. ‘Another advantage of taking the longer route is that it gives traders more options of where to sell their cargoes.”’