Rotterdam, Europe’s largest port
Ukraine fallout continues to support tanker freight rates
Freight rates for clean tankers—the specialist vessels that transport refined petroleum products—reached multi-year highs in 2022 and are likely to remain strong going into 2023
Clean freight rates saw “multi-year highs this summer… [that] remained elevated through November, driven largely by the effects of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine”, according to the EIA. Rates for the medium-range (MR) class of clean tankers—the most ubiquitous of product-transporting vessels—even topped those logged early in the pandemic, when the global slump in demand for refined products caused a spike in requirements for tankers to act as floating storage, the EIA states. Tanker freight rates are clustered around common shipping routes, which serve as indicators or even benchmarks for the cost of shipping more generally. "Since February 2022,” rates for voyages involving Russian
Also in this section
19 March 2026
The regional crisis highlights the undervalued role of fixed pipelines in the age of tanker flexibility
18 March 2026
Rising LNG exports and AI-driven power demand have raised concerns that US gas prices could climb sharply, but analysts say abundant shale supply and continued productivity gains should keep Henry Hub within a range that preserves the competitiveness of US LNG
18 March 2026
Risks of shortages in oil products may cause world leaders to panic and make mistakes instead of letting the market do what it does best
17 March 2026
The crisis in the Middle East has put LNG’s ability to offer security and flexibility under uncomfortable scrutiny
