Shortage of tankers puts further strain on oil trade

 

TT-Bloomberg 

Published 10:31 | Updated 10:34

 

Some long-haul oil shipments have become so expensive that they are no longer profitable. File photo. Photo: Marcos Moreno/AP/TT

The world is running short of available oil tankers, driving up freight costs and threatening to further disrupt global oil flows.

There is plenty of oil in the world, but shipping costs are skyrocketing due to the shortage of tankers.

In some regions, few or no massive tankers remain available for charter, and freight costs on the US–Asia route have roughly tripled in recent weeks. Shipping from Houston, Texas, to Asia now incurs an extra cost of around $26 per barrel—equivalent to $52 million per cargo. Some long-haul shipments have become so costly that they are unprofitable, prompting buyers to seek supplies from closer sources.

"Never been this expensive"

The price of Brent crude is currently hovering around $100 a barrel. Sales of Angolan oil—usually transported thousands of miles to China—are sluggish.

"It has never been this expensive to transport oil," said Saad Rahim, chief economist at trading giant Trafigura, speaking at the Bloomberg Commodity Investor Forum. When transport costs make up a larger share of the cargo's value, logistics becomes a much more critical issue, he noted.

The oil tanker market is also experiencing an exceptional boom, benefiting the few shipowners who dominate the sector.

One of them is South Korean billionaire Chung Ga-Hyun. He began acquiring a large number of giant oil tankers last December. The exceptional timing of this move has raised eyebrows in the industry. According to *The Wall Street Journal*, his company, Sinokor, was estimated last summer to own one in ten—a total of 80—of the world’s Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs).

Iran conflict the cause

The shortage of vessels is primarily driven by the conflict between the US and Iran, which ties up ships for longer periods near the Strait of Hormuz. At the same time, the conflict in Yemen is causing an increasing number of vessels to avoid the Red Sea and instead take the long detour around Africa.

Meanwhile, Asian buyers are replacing lost supplies from the Middle East with oil from the Americas, tying up even more vessels. 

Världen börjar få brist på tillgängliga oljefartyg, vilket driver upp fraktkostnaderna och hotar att störa de globala oljeflödena ännu mer.

Det finns olja i världen, men priserna för att frakta den skenar på grund av bristen på oljefartyg.

På vissa håll finns få eller inga av de enorma fartygen kvar att hyra, och på USA–Asien-rutten har fraktkostnaderna ungefär trefaldigats de senaste veckorna. Houston (Texas)–Asien kostar nu omkring 26 dollar extra per fat, motsvarande 52 miljoner dollar per last. Vissa långväga oljetransporter är nu så dyra att de blir olönsamma, och köpare söker närmare leveranser.

”Aldrig varit så dyrt”

Priset på brentolja pendlar för närvarande omkring 100 dollar fatet. Försäljningen av angolansk olja, som vanligtvis transporteras tusentals mil till Kina, går trögt.

– Det har aldrig varit så här dyrt att transportera olja, säger Saad Rahim, chefsekonom på handelsjätten Trafigura, vid Bloomberg Commodity Investor Forum. När transportkostnaden utgör en större del av lastens värde blir logistiken en mycket större fråga, enligt honom.

Oljefartygsmarknaden befinner sig också i en exceptionell högkonjunktur, vilket gynnar de få redare som dominerar marknaden.

En av dem är numera den sydkoreanske miljardären Chung Ga-Hyun. Han började i december köpa upp ett stort antal gigantiska oljefartyg. Den exceptionella tajmingen på satsningen har fått ögonbryn att höjas i branschen. Hans företag Sinokor beräknades i somras enligt The Wall Street Journal äga var tionde – totalt 80 – av världens mycket stora råoljetankfartyg, så kallade VLCC.