{"id":108688,"date":"2026-03-02T15:02:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T18:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/896923041"},"modified":"2026-03-02T15:02:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T18:02:58","slug":"oil-shipping-costs-soar-as-iran-conflict-chokes-hormuz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/02\/oil-shipping-costs-soar-as-iran-conflict-chokes-hormuz\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil Shipping Costs Soar as Iran Conflict Chokes Hormuz"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alex Longley, Serene Cheong, Weilun Soon and Yongchang Chin<\/p>\n

Mar 2, 2026 (Bloomberg) \u2013A venture that\u2019s taken a dominant position in the global market for oil supertankers is asking for sky-high charter fees to deliver Middle East crude as the Iran war sends rates spiraling upward.<\/p>\n

South Korea\u2019s Sinokor is asking the equivalent of about $20 a barrel to transport oil from the region to China on very large crude carriers, according to shipbrokers. That compares with an average of about $2.50 last year. A smaller ship, controlled by Greece\u2019s Dynacom Tankers Management, was provisionally leased out at about double Friday\u2019s rate.<\/p>\n

Alongside a jump in oil prices, runaway freight is one of the most tangible market responses to a conflict that began on Saturday and culminated with the vital Strait of Hormuz chokepoint all-but closing to tanker traffic. Traders are now watching what comes next at the waterway, which handles about a fifth of the world\u2019s oil.<\/p>\n

Sinokor, working alongside the shipping tycoon Gianluigi Aponte, grabbed the tanker market\u2019s attention this year by taking control of an unprecedented portion of the global VLCC fleet.<\/p>\n

A Huge Bet on Supertankers Reverberates Through the Oil Market (1)<\/a><\/p>\n

The company on Monday indicated to shipbrokers that its going rate to haul Middle East oil to China, the benchmark route for VLCCs, is 700 industry standard Worldscale points, a more than threefold increase from Friday, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information isn\u2019t public.<\/p>\n

Sinokor didn\u2019t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.<\/p>\n

Worldscale is a pricing system allowing shipowners to calculate vessel earnings and oil companies to estimate their costs when negotiating rates.<\/p>\n

Two shipbrokers said the 700-point rate Sinokor is proposing would work out at roughly $20 a barrel if the cargo ultimately went to eastern China.<\/p>\n

A tanker controled by Greece\u2019s Dynacom was leased out for 525 Worldscale, equivalent to earnings of $350,000 for every day of its charter, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.<\/p>\n

The Baltic Exchange, which publishes benchmark freight-price assessments, said it is consulting panelists who help it to determine benchmark those rates about how to respond to the current situation in Hormuz.<\/p>\n

Read More: Surging Oil Tanker Rates Tipped to Go Even Higher on Iran Risk<\/a><\/p>\n

Sinokor embarked on a fleet-accquisition spree in recent months. One competitor estimated recently that Sinokor now controls about 150 vessels, or nearly 40%, of unsanctioned ships available for immediate charter. <\/p>\n

\u00a9 2026 Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n

Editorial Standards<\/a> \u00b7 Corrections<\/a> \u00b7 About gCaptain<\/a><\/p>\n

This article contains reporting from Bloomberg, published under license.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… in oil prices, runaway freight<\/span> is one of the most … . Sinokor, working alongside the shipping<\/span> tycoon Gianluigi Aponte, grabbed the … a barrel if the cargo<\/span> ultimately went to eastern China … Exchange, which publishes benchmark freight<\/span>-price assessments, said it …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}