Eastbound VLCC rates from the Middle East fell to a new 2016 low Wednesday as the summer doldrums deepened.
The Baltic Exchange's estimate for the TD3 route to Japan fell to WorldScale 33.2 today. That brought the time-charter equivalent rate down by more than $1,020 to $17,200 per day on the benchmark route, the lowest level since October 2014.
"Low rates prompted a few charterers to show some long east cargoes this morning, and despite initial excitement from owners rates slipped sideways with no improvement so far," shipbroker Howe Robinson said.
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