Proposal to change MR tonnage size from 30 kt to 35 kt

Platts proposes to change the basis volume assessed for Medium Range (MR) tanker freight rates from 30 kt to 35 kt for the following East of Suez routes: AG to Japan, AG to India, AG to Singapore, AG to Korea, AG to East Africa, India to Singapore, India to Japan and India to South Korea.

These rates are published in the Platts Clean Tankerwire and Platts Global Alert Page 136.

The proposed changes are a result of industry feedback that current MR tankers have a larger cubic capacity, and 35,000 mt (35 kt) stem sizes are now predominantly chartered to ferry refined products such as naphtha, gasoil, jet fuel and gasoline.

Platts will normalize 30,000 mt tanker fixtures to a 35,000 mt basis. Platts proposes to change the assessed MR volume on January 1, 2012.

Please send all comments or questions by December 1, 2011, to asia_tankers@platts.com and pricegroup@platts.com.