Ship-Owners Not Taking Bookings for Mideast Cargo

EghtesadOnline: A large number of ship-owners were not accepting bookings for Middle East cargoes on Friday, citing lack of clarity on safety after Thursday's attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman, Singapore-based shipbrokers and Asian market sources said.

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16 June 2019

The move will not have an immediate impact on crude flows as charterers are not in urgent need of vessels and crude supply was ample, they said, S & P Global reported.

A few ship-owners were still willing to consider spot bookings for the Middle East, including mainly Greek companies who sought higher premiums and extra crew fees to undertake the voyage, shipbrokers said.

Most owners were in a wait-and-watch mode and at least one major Asian ship-owner was still considering halting its vessels from calling at ports in the Middle East, a company executive said.

"There is too much steam today and many owners are not ready for calling Persian Gulf ports. If we check the market today for ships, owners will be bullish," a Singapore-based VLCC charterer said.

According to Financial Tribune, some ship-owners were hesitant to call at Fujairah, while others said that calling at Persian Gulf ports had not been ruled out and there were always some vessels willing to take the risk.

Other owners said war risk premiums must be charged to the charterer, indicating that risk appetite for Middle East loadings varied widely.