Oil Shipping Costs Soar for Key Routes on Russian Invasion
- Shipowners request much higher rates to handle Russian crude
- Buyers search for replacement cargoes from Middle East, U.S.
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The escalating crisis over Ukraine has catapulted the cost of shipping oil by sea.
Freight rates for hauling crude from Russia are surging as sanctions imposed on the country push up the risks of carrying cargoes on those routes, while a scramble for alternative supplies boosts the rates for other passages. Shipowners are offering at least double the last transacted rate to carry so-called ESPO crude from Kozmino, which loads oil from Russia’s Far East, to ports in China, according to traders and a shipbroker who asked not to be identified.