Relief for shortsea as charterers find themselves back in the driving seat
Owners of smaller containerships are now settling for much shorter charters and reduced daily hire ...
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By Mike Wackett
Bunker prices doubled last year, ending at around $300 per tonne for heavy fuel oil (HFO) and $450 per tonne for low-sulphur marine diesel oil (MDO), putting more pressure on the already slim margins of feeder operators.
So the fourth-quarter surge in container rates was timely for ocean carriers with ultra-large containerships burning over 100 tonnes of fuel a day.
Although the freight rate increases will take some time to show up on carriers’ top lines, their pro-forma calculations will already be looking much healthier.
2016 was not ...
Comment on this article
Bill Brassington
January 13, 2017 at 12:06 amMike,
Interesting article, and worth looking at this on a regional basis too. Currently the Far Eastern price for HFO appears to be about $80 per ton more expensive than in NW Europe. Whereas the price of MDO showed a sudden $50 price hike in NW Europe in the start of the last quarter of 2016.
Since the beginning of the year the average price of MDO has increased by approximately 96% but we have to look back to July 2009 to see lower average price per ton,
Are the smaller carriers not attracting the bulk discounts that the major carriers are probably getting and therefore suffering a double whammy!