Crude oil has to be shipped to China at a sky-high price! The rent of supertanker from the United States to China exceeded 2.4 billion yuan, shocking the market

The war in the Middle East continues to impact the global shipping market. Schematic diagram of a supertanker. (European News Agency)

[Financial Channel/Comprehensive Report] The war in the Middle East continues to impact the global shipping market. A supertanker recently sailed from the U.S. Gulf Coast to China for a charter fee of US$76 million (approximately NT$2.42 billion), highlighting the sharp rise in global crude oil transportation costs after the war caused a shortage of available tankers.

"CNBC" reported that people familiar with the matter pointed out that the supertanker named "Alexandros" is chartered by the trader Trafigura and is expected to load crude oil around November 19. In comparison, before the outbreak of the war, the normal charter rate for this route from the U.S. Gulf Coast to China was about US$7 million to US$10 million (about NT$222 million to NT$318 million). Now the price has soared to US$76 million, up to about 11 times the normal pre-war level.

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Based on the fact that this tanker can carry about 2 million barrels of crude oil, the transportation cost of a single barrel of oil is equivalent to US$38 (approximately NT$1,210). In other words, just transporting crude oil from the United States to China accounts for a large proportion of the price of a barrel of crude oil.

The surge in shipping costs is mainly related to the tight supply of tankers caused by the war in the Persian Gulf. Middle East oil-producing countries are currently adopting a "feeder transportation" method to reduce the risk of oil tankers directly crossing the Strait of Hormuz being attacked by Iran.

The current method of operation is that a tanker loaded with crude oil first passes through the Strait of Hormuz, and then transfers the crude oil to another tanker docked in the Gulf of Oman, which then takes over to transport the crude oil to Asia.

Although this mode of transportation reduces the risk of oil tankers being attacked and allows crude oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz to increase, the cost is that more ships are needed to transport the same amount of crude oil out of the Persian Gulf, further increasing global oil tanker demand and transportation costs.

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