Supertanker Market Heats Up With War Premium Back in Play

The supertanker charter market has become red-hot this year as the specter of a U.S. military campaign in Iran has added to a number of other bullish factors to push daily rates to the highest in nearly six years. The daily rate for hiring a very large crude carrier (VLCC), capable of shipping 2 million barrels, on the key Middle East Gulf to China route (MEG-China) this week topped $200,000. That’s the highest daily rate since early April 2020, when Saudi Arabia and Russia were flooding the market with c ...