It is now more expensive to charter an oil tanker than to launch a rocket into space, says ship broker

The conflict in the Middle East continues to twist the figures of the world economy, to the point of producing unexpected configurations. According to an analysis by shipping broker Gibson, one of the largest in the world, chartering a tanker to transport oil from the United States to China now costs more than launching a rocket into space. This sea crossing costs around $80 million, the company estimates, compared to $74 million for the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Reported by Bloomberg, the comparison illustrates the surge in oil transport costs since the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East and the virtual blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Before the crisis, getting American oil to China cost about $4.50 per barrel. The price reached 41 dollars following a contract concluded last week, illustrates the media, or more than nine times its initial level.

The sector is thus experiencing an “unprecedented boom, which even veterans of the sector have never seen”. According to another major shipbroker, the current rates had not been observed since the 1960s, when the first supertankers were put into service.

Several factors explain this surge, but they come together around the same shortage phenomenon, explains Bloomberg. Middle Eastern producers are increasingly reliant on oil transshipment, the transfer of oil cargo from one ship to another after crossing the Strait of Hormuz. These operations extend journeys by sometimes several weeks and thus reduce the number of tankers available to transport the oil. Mechanically, the reduction in transport supply increases competition between buyers and pushes freight rates upwards.

To limit these costs, some oil traders choose to split their cargo between two smaller vessels. For their part, certain producing countries are seeking to acquire their own tankers in order to be less dependent on shipowners, reports the American media Bloomberg. However, the prices of the tankers themselves are also increasing sharply. According to data from Clarkson Research Services, cited by Bloomberg, a new tanker on the used market can reach $240 million. Here too, a very clear increase in value.