Platts proposes to launch USGC-Tampa/Port Everglades Medium Range clean tanker Jones Act freight assessments Nov. 1

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, proposes to launch two daily spot-equivalent 38,000 mt Medium Range clean tanker Jones Act freight assessments on the US Gulf Coast-to-Tampa/Port Everglades routes, effective Nov. 1, to provide transparency into domestic maritime shipping markets.

Since Jones Act freight trading is almost exclusively transacted on a term charter basis, the freight assessments will reflect spot-equivalent lump sum and $/mt freight values based on transactional term charter rates adding roundtrip bunker and port costs from the USGC to Tampa, West Coast Florida, and Port Everglades, East Coast Florida.

The load port basket and discharge ports, average port charges, vessel speed, and bunker consumption to be utilized in the spot-equivalent freight assessments are arrived at by extensive market survey and reflect market practice.

On the 38,000 mt USGC-Tampa and USGC-Port Everglades routes, the spot-equivalent freight assessments will factor in

• Term charter rates on a $/day basis multiplied by the number of roundtrip voyage days
• Voyage distance on a roundtrip basis
• Average load port costs at Houston, Lake Charles, New Orleans and Pascagoula
• Discharge port costs at Tampa and Port Everglades, respectively
• Average delivered 0.1% sulfur marine gas oil bunker costs at the main bunkering ports of Houston and New Orleans as assessed by Platts on a daily basis under the codes AAWWX00 and AAWYA00, respectively
• Voyage speed of 14 knots for both laden and ballast legs at a bunker consumption of 32 mt/d and 30 mt/d, respectively
• Bunker consumption of 5 mt/d for two loading days and one idle day per roundtrip, and 18 mt/d during two days of discharge

Please send all comments or questions by Sep. 29, 2023 to shipping@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com.

For written comments, please provide a clear indication if comments are not intended for publication by Platts for public viewing. Platts will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available to the public upon request.