Well, wrapping up week 2 of the conflict on Friday the 13th.
This week I have data from each of my primary sources of tanker rate data.
- Ship broker Affinity’s report is useful for the scope of routes (9 dirty, 10 clean) - All routes down in week 2 vs week 1.
- I will still suggest that if the origin is in the Gulf, the rate is just a quoted rate. And rates outside the gulf are actually “done” rates since a vessel can be loaded and actually sail.
- While dirty rates have slipped this week, still very healthy rates across all vessel categories
- While the TC2 is the lowest clean route, I still think the owners benefit because the route is combined with TC14 as the return leg, and thus very little ballast time. https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Affinity-Tanker-Weekly-13.03.2026-HSN.pdf
Gibson’s tanker report is very readable this week. Useful in a different manner. Since Gibson has rates for multiple time periods, a couple of columns corroborate the rate slippage provided by the prior broker.
There is also additional color in the reporting e,g, owners ballasting to pick up cargos in the Red Sea.
I will share another item that has hit the radar. Although the Strait of Hormuz has a significant impact on energy output i.e. it is about 20% on crude oil, and LNG, as there are additional sources elsewhere. But LPG is a different case. In that case, the MEG region produces almost 50% (I saw 46% quoted from one source). In addition, LPG and its derivates, are used for cooking. So here is one LPG-related change reported for India
I think, if one does searches of other South East Asian countries e.g. Philippines, one can read articles about LPG developments there.