An increasing number of ships are being chartered for routes bypassing the Red Sea. The oil market predicts that the crisis in the region linked to Houthi attacks on ships will last for several weeks. Regarding shipowners, brokers and traders in this regard he is writing Bloomberg.
“More and more shipowners are avoiding the region,” said Alexander Saveris, managing director of Euronav NV, whose own fleet can transport more than 50 million barrels of oil a day.
Oil companies primarily rent tankers to transport fuel cargoes destined for Asia, not Europe. At the same time, large shipments of Iraqi crude oil were ordered to tankers that traveled thousands of miles around Africa. Some of Iraq’s largest fuel shipments originate from trips around Africa, from the Persian Gulf to Europe. Some oil companies are loading smaller cargoes onto larger ships to make the route more cost-effective, one of the sources said.
Container shipping, the initial focus of many Houthi attacks, had already been largely diverted to other routes before the US and UK airstrikes.
Prices of some oil tankers have also increased in recent weeks. Since mid-December 2023, rents for Aframax ships carrying approximately 700,000 barrels of oil have more than doubled, reaching approximately $80,000 per day, while rents for Suezmax ships have increased by approximately 50%, to approximately $70,000 per day.
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