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METHODOLOGY AND SPECIFICATIONS GUIDE SHIPPING
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SHIPPING
Platts assesses open market rates for the chartering of dirty
tankers, clean
tankers and barges. Dirty tankers are defined as those carrying
crude, fuel oil
or other dirty products such as vacuum gasoil or dirty
condensate. Clean
tankers carry light ends such as gasoline, middles distillates
or naphtha. Platts
also published separate assessments for smaller dirty tankers
dedicated to
moving just fuel.
PORTS
Platts assesses a number of key shipping regions under broad
geographic
descriptions. A list of those descriptions as they appear in the
Tankerwires, and the
markets they represent, follows.
UKC: Bilbao to Hamburg, plus southern Sweden and western
Norway
Med: All ports from Gibraltar to Istanbul
Black Sea: All ports in the Black Sea
Caribbean: Venezuela and the islands of the Caribbean
EC Canada: Atlantic coast, as well as shipments into the St.
Lawrence
USWC: Seattle to Los Angeles
USGC: Pascagoula, Mississippi to Corpus Christi
USAC: North of Cape Hatteras to Portland, Maine
AG: All ports in the Arab Gulf (also known as the Persian Gulf),
up to
the Strait of Hormuz
Indo: All ports in Indonesia
Skorea: All ports in South Korea
Japan: All ports in Japan
Austr: All ports in Australia
HK: Hong Kong
Rsea: All ports in the Red Sea
India: All ports in India
EAfrica: From the Horn of Africa to Durban, South Africa
ASSESSMENTS
Timing:Platts tanker rate assessments reflect the transactable
value prevailing
at 16:30:00 London time precisely for West of Suez routes and
16:30:00 Singapore
time precisely for East of Suez routes. Platts assessments are
derived from a review
of completed fixtures, and market levels reported, in the period
since the previous
set of assessments was published. Platts aim is to (1) provide a
reflection of
market activity (including fixtures, vessels put on subjects,
firm bids and firm offers
and (2) publish a representative value at which Platts believes
chartering activity
could occur, given movements in related markets. Platts gives
priority to fully
verified, transparent, and firm data.
Laycan dates:Platts reflects fixtures that fall within typical
date ranges in its
assessments. Platts also considers fixtures reported for dates
outside of these
typical ranges, which are described below, and will normalize
the value of fixtures
to reflect assessed loading dates as needed.
In the East of Suez markets, Platts assessments for MR-sized
vessels reflect ships
fixed for loading 10-15 days forward from the date of
assessment. Assessments
for Aframax, Suezmax and LR-sized vessels reflect ships fixed
for loading 7-15 days
forward from the date of assessment. VLCC routes assessed out of
the East of Sue
markets reflect ships fixed for loading 10-25 forward.
In the West of Suez markets, Platts assessments for MR-sized
vessels fixed for
European voyages reflect ships fixed for loading 7-15 days
forward from the date
of assessment. All other MR, LR, Aframax, Panamax or Suezmax
vessels fixed for
European voyages reflect ships fixed for loading 7-25 days
forward from the date
of assessment. Assessments for the value of VLCCs on all routes
into and out of
Europe and West Africa reflect ships fixed for loading 7-45 days
forward from the
date of assessment
Basis:Platts tanker assessments are primarily expressed as
percentage of the
annual Worldscale flat rate that is being agreed upon in open
market transactions
to charter a ship. For example, if the Worldscale annual flat
rate also known
as Worldscale 100 is set at $10.00 per metric ton for a specific
route, a Platts
assessment of 50 for that route would mean that the class of
ship being assessed
is being chartered for $5.00 per metric tonne of freight on that
voyage. Since
January 2013, Platts has published its Worldscale basis
assessments to two
decimal places, and to quarter points.
Assesments
Vessel class Typical size (dwt) Date range reflected
in assessment
East of Suez
MR 25,00055,000 10-15 days forward
LR 1 55,000-80,000 7-15 days forward
LR2 80,000-120,000 7-15 days forwardAframax 80,000120,000 7-15
days forward
Suezmax 120,000200,000 7-15 days forward
VLCC 160,000320,000 10-25 days forward
West of Suez
MR* 25,00055,000 7-15 days forward
MR** 25,000-55,000 7-25 days forward
LR 55,000-80,000 7-25 days forward
Panamax 50,00080,000 7-25 days forward
Aframax 80,000120,000 7-25 days forward
Suezmax 120,000200,000 7-25 days forward
VLCC 160,000320,000 7-45 days forward
*For a European voyage
**For voyages from Europe to anywhere else in the world
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The Worldscale flat rate is published at the beginning of each
year by the
Worldscale Association.
Lump-sum assessments: In some tanker markets, some routes are
assessed on a
lump sum for the cost of chartering a ship of the specified
size. The markets that
are assessed on that basis have historically traded in that
manner, and the Platts
assessment of a lump sum rather than Worldscale rate reflects
the practice.
In the Dirty Tankerwire Platts assesses one route on a lump sum
basis, a VLCC
route UKC East. This reflects VLCCs fixed from Rotterdam to
Singapore
basis 270,000dwt. Information regarding other voyages from
UKC-East, such as
Crude loadings from the North Sea will also be considered in the
assessment but
will be normalized to this route.
Size and specifications:The tonnage specified in our assessment
tables
represents the weight of the cargo carried. Platts will consider
charters of different
yet approximate sizes when making its assessments, pro-rating
the market rates to
the size of the ship in the assessment.
Assessments are typically based on double-hull/double-bottom
vessels less than
20 years of age, or typically less than 15 years for voyages
involving a European
load or destination port. Where there is a broadly equal amount
of market activity
taking place for both well-approved, modern tonnage and older,
less well-approved
tonnage in the same market concurrently, Platts assessment will
be based on the
higher quality end of the market. The aim is to follow where the
bulk of activity is
taking place in each of the routes Platts assesses.
NR:NR is a designation that stands for No Recent Rate. It is
utilized on a route
where Platts sees at least six months of either total or
near-total inactivity. NR is not
used to reflect a market that is simply quiet for a few days.
Platts will always seek to
minimize the use of NR assessments, and a routes designation of
NR will always be
ended as quickly as possible when information on that route
becomes available.
$/MT assessments:Platts also publishes its assessments in US
dollar permetric ton equivalent values. Platts determines $/mt
freight rates based on a
basket of Worldscale flat rates on several key routes between
the two regions
noted. For example, the UKC-USG $/mt assessment would be based
on such routes
as Sullom Voe-Houston. Platts spot Worldscale assessments are
applied against
this basket, to produce the assessment for a $/mt rate. The
basket is updated
annually, when the Worldscale Association establishes new flat
rates for the year.
For those routes which are assessed basis a US$ lumpsum, the
$/mt assessment is
calculated by dividing the lumpsum total by the size of the
cargo assessed.
Fuel oil-only assessments: Platts produces several assessments
within the body of
its Dirty Tankerwire that represent solely a standard vessel
moving dirty petroleum products
that do not require heating during transport or storage. This
generally is fuel oil, hence
the designation of these as fuel oil-only assessments. These
movements generallycommand a premium in the spot chartering rate.
Under normal market conditions,
assessments loading in the Baltic are based on modern, non-ice
class vessels.
Suez Canal:Assessments for voyages which would involve a Suez
Canal transit
are made inclusive of any canal fees.
CLEAN BARGE FREIGHT - EUROPE
Platts publishes daily assessments for a number of European
barge routes from the
Rotterdam trading hub to destinations in the
Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam area,
Germany and Switzerland. These assessments appear in the Clean
Tankerwire and
on Platts Global Alert. The list of barge routes for which
freight assessments are
published daily are as follows:-
ARA: Rotterdam-Rotterdam (cross-harbor)
Rotterdam-Flushing
Rotterdam-Ghent
Rotterdam-Antwerp
Rotterdam-Duisberg
Germany: Rotterdam-Cologne
Rotterdam-Karlsruhe
Antwerp-Duisberg
Switzerland: Rotterdam-Basel
The assessments are published in US Dollars per metric
tonne.
Size:The tonnage reflected is 2kt. Platts will consider charters
of different yet
approximate sizes when making its assessments, pro-rating the
market rates to the
size of the barge reflected in the assessment.
Timing:Platts barge assessments reflect charters for journeys
two to seven days
following the date of publication.
Fuel oil-only routes and sizes
UKC-UKC: 27.5, 30
UKC-Med: 27.5, 30
UKC-USG: 30
UKC-USG: 55
UKC-Med: 55
Med-Med: 27.5
Med-Med: 30BSea-Med: 30
Caribs-USG: 50
Caribs-USAC: 50
