Trans-Atlantic crude export drive prompts tanker class intertrade, sinks rates
Increased competition between Suezmax and Aframax tankers on the US Gulf Coast-Transatlantic runs prompted rates to fall 48.3% and 29.3% from the crude export-driven freight spike seen in early April. Charterers looking to cover trans-Atlantic crude stems were heard to have been looking at both Suezmax and Aframax options, all of which ultimately chose a Suezmax vessel and fixed at…