Platts will discontinue 90 kt, 150 kt Americas freight assessments

S&P Global Platts will discontinue four Americas dirty tanker freight assessments -- Suezmax 150,000 mt Caribbean-China, Suezmax 150,000 mt USGC-Singapore, Aframax 90,000 mt Caribbean-UK Continent, and Aframax 90,000 mt Caribbean/Mediterranean routes -- effective January 2, 2020.

The discontinuation was first proposed in a subscriber note published September 27. (https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/092719-platts-proposes-to-discontinue-90kt-150-kt-americas-freight-assessments)

Platts understands that fixtures on these routes typically reflect vessels of a smaller size.

Platts will continue to assess the Suezmax Caribbean and USGC-loading routes to Asia on a 130,000 mt basis and the Aframax Caribbean-trans-Atlantic routes on a 70,000 mt basis, to reflect the fact that the bulk of observed spot market activity on these routes is traded on those bases.

The discontinuation will affect the following:

These assessments appear on Platts Global Alert Pages 1972 and 1962; on Platts Shipping Alert Pages 2440 and 2430; in the Dirty Tankerwire; and in the Platts price database under the codes above.

Please send any comments or questions 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.