The number of crude oil tankers booked to ship Middle East crude has surged, boosting freight costs, shipbrokers said to Exim News Service.

Oil companies and traders on October 20 hired a total of 16 supertankers, each with a capacity to carry two million barrels, a shipbroker at Barry Rogliano Salles in Dubai said.

A total of 22 vessels have been booked for November loading so far this month, compared with an average of about 95 bookings per month for the last several months, he said. Ship rentals are referred to as fixtures.

Owners need increased oil supply and demand to offset the effects of a swelling supertanker fleet that has already expanded at a 5.2 per cent pace this year, according to Lloyd’s Register-Fairplay data.

Rental income from shipping Saudi Arabian oil to climbed by 9.2 per cent to $21,062 a day, according to the Baltic Exchange here. That represents owners’ highest returns from the industry-benchmark voyage since July 7, according to the Exchange.

Of the 16 bookings, nine were rentals for individual cargoes and seven were organised under contracts that oil companies have with shipowners, the broker elaborated.

(Source: Transport Weekly)