Tanker Rates Jump as U.S. Refiners Boost Latin America Shipments

Tanker rates are increasing to the highest level in at least three years as a surge in U.S. refining boosts demand for ships to carry processed fuels to Latin America and the Caribbean.

Vessels carrying about 38,000 metric tons of refined fuels to Rio de Janeiro from Houston earned an average of $31,050 a day last week, according to data from Clarkson Plc. That’s the highest since at least December 2010, when the world’s largest shipbroker began publishing the data.