A $40-per-barrel freight estimate for a planned U.S. crude shipment to China underscores how sharply transport costs have risen on the route and makes the cargo less attractive to Asian refiners.
For the week of Oct. 5-9, freight for a two-million-barrel voyage from the U.S. Gulf Coast to China planned for November was estimated at $80 million. Spread across the cargo, that equals $40 per barrel.
The cited prewar rate was $8.60 per barrel, a difference of $31.40. The estimate covers shipping but excludes the crude's purchase price, so it does not establish the cargo's total delivered cost.
August's route average was $79.21 per metric ton; September's was $156.19 per metric ton. The monthly averages are quoted by weight; the $80 million figure is one voyage's total freight bill, spread across the cargo's barrels.
Tanker availability was also affected by inefficient ship-to-ship transfers during disruption in the Strait of Hormuz and increased crude flows from the Atlantic Basin toward Asia. The higher freight burden makes U.S. cargoes less attractive to Asian refiners.
