Platts proposes to change deadweight tonnage reflected in Aframax 70kt USGC-UK Continent/Mediterranean assessments Feb. 1

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, is proposing to amend the methodology for its Aframax 70,000 mt US Gulf Coast-UK Continent/Mediterranean freight assessments to reflect tankers with a deadweight tonnage of between 110,000 dwt and 115,000 dwt effective Feb. 1, 2024.

Any fixtures, bids, offers, and indicative values used as a part of the assessment that represent freight for ship sizes outside of the proposed deadweight tonnage range would be normalized back to reflect achievable freight for ships within the designated size range.

The assessment currently reflects "average lifting" tonnage ranging from 108,000 dwt to 112,000 dwt.

Platts recognizes that there has been a shift in the size of tankers used to lift crude barrels from the USGC for export on the Aframax 70,000 mt USGC-UKC/Med routes, from parcel sizes of 700,000 barrels for WTI Midland cargoes included in the Brent basket, as free overage on the USGC allows for ships to be loaded over their contractual 70,000 mt cargo size.

Market research shows that ships with deadweight tonnage within the proposed 110,000 dwt-115,000 dwt range constituted 48% of all trans-Atlantic Aframax voyages out of the USGC in the first three quarters of 2023 and 45% during 2022. Ships with deadweight tonnages in the 108,000 dwt-112,00 dwt range held a 21% share of the total volumes so far in 2023 and 18% in 2022.

The affected assessments are:

Please submit any feedback, comments or questions about this proposal to: shipping@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com by Jan. 4, 2023.

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.