Record Tanker Rates Cripple U.S. Crude Oil Flows to Asia

The Iran war has made oil tanker voyages so inefficient that vessel availability has crumbled and freight costs have soared to record-highs, all but erasing the incentive for shipping crude oil from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Asia. The cost of shipping crude oil from the U.S. Gulf Coast to China soared to as high as $80 million earlier this month. That's ten times the average tanker rates that had held for years before the Iran war. Freight rates have eased from the record highs seen in early October, but they were still about $60 million for a supertanker to carry oil from the U.S. to Asia this week. The cost is so high that Asian refiners aren't ordering much crude from the U.S. for November delivery. So far this month, Asian refiner orders for U.S.