Tanker Rates Doubling on Lower Speeds, Libya: Freight Markets

Supertanker owners are coping with the second-highest fuel costs on record by sailing ships at the slowest speeds in at least three years, reducing vessel supply and bolstering charter rates.

The carriers, each bigger than the Chrysler Building, moved at an average of 10.7 knots last month, about a knot slower than a year ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The drop cuts the fleet’s capacity by 9 percent, according to Pareto Securities AS, an Oslo-based investment bank. Frontline Ltd., A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. and Euronav NV, which control 16 percent of all supertankers, told investors in recent weeks they are cutting speeds.