Covid-19 impact: Tanker rates boom as demand for oil storage surges

Vessel charges jump up to seven times to $160,000-170,000 per day since February

With onshore oil storage facilities being exhausted and companies resorting to floating storage, hiring rates for very large crude carriers have gone up about seven times since February. Shipping firms say the rates are likely to go up further as the availability of such vessels has dropped sharply.
 

“Vessel charges have risen exponentially to about $160,000-170,000 a day from $25,000 in February, primarily because of increased floating storage across the globe. Going ahead, the charges may move up further to $200,000 per day as well,” Rahul Bhargava, director (commercial and operations) at Essar Shipping, told Business Standard.
 

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