Fuel-Tanker Bookings to Japan Rise 59% After Quake, Tsunami

Bookings of tankers to ship fuels to Japan rose 59 percent in the three weeks after the nation’s devastating earthquake and tsunami damaged refineries and power-generation plants.

At least 84 ships, scheduled to carry 6.2 million metric tons of fuels, were booked to sail to Japan from the Middle East, Asia and Europe as demand for imported fuel oil and crude surged, according to vessel transmissions captured by Bloomberg and ship fixtures compiled from Clarkson Research. That compares with at least 53 vessels booked for 3.3 million tons of fuels in the three weeks before the quake, the data show. Japan, the world’s third-biggest oil user and an exporter of gasoil, shut about 29 percent of its refining capacity in the aftermath of the quake.