Dubai: A VLCC is making its way to the Middle East Gulf for use as floating storage as the contango market conditions widen for crude oil.
Yesterday, the VLCC Good News (314,000 dwt, built 1999) was fixed on a six-month timecharter at a rate of $36,500/day to Clearlake Shipping, part of commodity trader Gunvor.
The 15-year-old vessel, which is operated by Greece-based Polembros Shipping, will be delivered to Fujairah for use as floating storage.
There has been a spate of fixings of older VLCCs for use as floating storage, with most vessels heading for Singapore.
Meanwhile, spot rates for VLCCs heading to Asia from the Middle East Gulf have rallied on the back of low crude prices. Yesterday, daily VLCC rates for the benchmark Ras Tanura to Chiba (TD3) route rose to $77,808/day, a 2.4% increase on the $75,985/day seen on January 12 (based on a 265,000-dwt vessel at 13 knots). [14/01/15]
