Oil supertanker sector remains on fire as sanctions and altered shipping routes take effect

Oil Tanker Freight Rates Surge Amid Global Disruptions

This year has seen a dramatic rise in oil tanker shipping rates, continuing the upward trend from 2025. The market is experiencing multi-year highs due to increased crude supply, extended shipping distances, and ongoing disruptions from sanctions and changing maritime routes.

By the close of 2025, the global market for supertankers had tightened considerably. With more crude coming from OPEC+ nations and the Americas, tankers were embarking on longer journeys than usual. The situation became so acute that several newly built very large crude carriers (VLCCs) sailed empty from Asian shipyards to oil-producing regions in the Middle East, the Americas, and Africa, bypassing their typical first cargoes of Asian-made fuels.

Ordinarily, these supertankers would carry gasoline on their maiden voyages. However, the shortage in available vessels led owners to prioritize crude shipments instead, as daily charter rates soared.

Record-Breaking Tanker Rates in 2025

Charter costs for oil tankers surged in 2025, with rates jumping by 467%. This spike was fueled by increased commodity flows and a series of disruptions and sanctions affecting shipping routes.

After reaching multi-year highs last year, rates have continued to climb into this year. Industry experts and shipbrokers anticipate that freight costs will remain elevated as geopolitical tensions continue to reshape global oil flows and tanker demand.

Even during the typically slower demand period at the end of the year, tanker rates for crude oil transport showed no signs of softening in the final weeks of 2025.

On the Middle East to China route, supertanker rates reached their highest levels in five years as traders sought alternatives to Russian oil following U.S. sanctions on major Russian producers. Rates for smaller tankers also surged as demand for all available vessels intensified.

2026: Even Higher Rates and New Market Dynamics

So far in 2026, tanker rates have climbed further. Sanctions on Russia and Venezuela have led to more oil being stored at sea, increasing the demand for tankers as floating storage units.

Additionally, new U.S. policies on Venezuelan oil have prompted leading global traders to charter more compliant vessels to move Venezuelan crude to refineries in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

During the latter half of 2025, the Baltic Dirty Tanker Index—which tracks freight rates on key crude oil routes—rose by about 30%. Less than a month into 2026, the index had already jumped another 30%.

Venezuelan Oil Trade Shifts and Tanker Demand

With U.S. approval, major commodity traders Vitol and Trafigura have resumed trading Venezuelan crude. This shift is expected to require more tankers to move oil from the world's largest reserves holder.

Following the removal of Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelan oil exports transitioned from covert shipments to China using shadow tankers, to authorized deliveries to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries on legitimate vessels.

Vitol and Trafigura have also begun offering Venezuelan crude to refiners in China and India for March delivery, which will tie up more tankers on lengthy routes.

Redirecting Venezuelan oil exports to mainstream fleets could further elevate already high tanker rates in the short to medium term.

The agency also noted that ongoing geopolitical tensions, particularly in Venezuela and Iran, are likely to prompt oil buyers to diversify their sources, supporting increased shipping distances and boosting earnings for tanker operators.

Current Market Conditions and the Suez Canal Factor

The market for VLCCs—tankers capable of transporting up to 2 million barrels of crude—remained robust last week, despite a slight dip from the previous week. Daily earnings for standard Baltic VLCCs stayed above $100,000, reaching $112,394.

While a return to Suez Canal transits could potentially lower tanker rates, the likelihood of resuming oil shipments along this shortest route between Europe and Asia remains uncertain.

Shipping giant Maersk has cautiously resumed some trans-Suez operations, linking the Middle East and India with the U.S. East Coast. The company stated it would closely monitor security in the region and adjust services as needed, depending on stability in the Red Sea and the absence of escalating conflict.

However, oil tanker operators have yet to return to the Suez Canal route due to ongoing security risks, unrest in Iran, and heightened U.S.-Iran tensions. Most container shipping companies are also proceeding with caution, gradually resuming transits as conditions allow.

Normalization of Suez Canal transits could more than offset the impact of redirected Venezuelan oil on tanker rates.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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