Surge in Atlantic VLCC short hauls supporting Persian Gulf freight rates

A spike in VLCCs carting crude on short haul voyages as Europe pivots away from Russian supplies is again supporting freight rates that have been highly volatile since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, shipping sources said Feb. 20. Platts assessed the freight cost of moving 270,000 mt of crude on the key Persian Gulf-China route up $5.79/mt month on month at…