Diseño de ósmosis inversa

Shipping market contracts, also referred to as “charters”, are negotiated between the ship- per which requires transportation of oil between two ports, and the “carrier”, typically the shipowner. A charterer arranges the transportation required by the shipper. In practice, there are a number of different types of contracts in shipping, including spot contracts, forward contracts, and medium to long-term contracts which involve different arrangements between the charterer and shipowner. Spot contracts are negotiated within a short period of time (typically two days to two weeks) before the loading of the cargo. The loading date can be up to 6 weeks in the fu- ture from the fixture date so they operate like a forward market (Adland and Strandenes, 2007). Forward-contracts are similar to spot contracts but are negotiated farther in advance, usually a month or more before the agreed loading date. Medium contracts are typically arranged as time charters and long-term contracts are known as contracts of affreightment (see Stopford (2009) for an overview). In a time charter, the charterer hires a ship for a specified period of time (from a month to several years) and pays a fixed hire rate which includes the cost of crew. Similar to leasing a car, the charterer pays the fuel costs of journeys undertaken.

3.3. Market structure, tanker shipping contracts, and supply side factors 45 (Stopford, 2009). Charterers can work for either an oil major - a vertically integrated company involved in exploration, production, refining, marketing - or a trading house and work closely with oil traders. Oil majors also own their own fleet of ships to transport a portion of the oil ship- ments they make. Brokers serve as intermediaries, working for either a charterer or a shipowner to communicate information about the market when fixing a ship and earn a commission from the deal. Charterers in tanker shipping are dominated by oil majors. These companies have a division for trading and shipping business operations. The core of their upstream business is to market crude oil and sell it for the highest negotiable price, purchase most of the crude oil used as a feedstock for their refineries, import and export petroleum products to align supply to local demand, and select and charter safety-vetted tankers to transport cargo to its destination without mishap.

In the spot market, a ship is “fixed” to transport cargo from A to B for a price per tonne (called a fixture) or a total freight rate in lumpsum dollars (Platts, 2012). The terms of the contract include a speed. In the current market, this is typically 13.5 knots with an option to speed up (though this option is getting less popular due to high bunker prices) (Shipbroker, 2011; Ship Operator, 2012). It is common practice to designate just the load area and discharge area at the time that the fixture is settled between the charterer and the shipowner (Downey, 2009). This allows the charterer the flexibility to decide on the exact port within the region later on. Ports are classified into regions according to their proximity to a common sea area, as opposed to regional definitions from the UN that are land-based, and region will be synonymous with area in this study. Tables 3.3 and 3.4 list the regions which are associated with VLCC tanker fixtures.

Table 3.3: Load Areas (VLCC class)

LoadArea Name

AG Arabian Gulf

ARG Argentina

BALT Baltic Sea

BRZ Brazil

CAR Caribbean

CMED Central Mediterranean

ECC East Coast Canada

ECMX East Coast Mexico

EMED Eastern Mediterranean

JAP Japan

KOR Korea

REDS Red Sea

SPOR South Pacific Oceania Region

UKC United Kingdom Continent

USG US Gulf

WAF West Africa

WCSA West Coast South Africa

WMED Western Mediterranean

3.3. Market structure, tanker shipping contracts, and supply side factors 47

Table 3.4: Discharge Regions (VLCC class)

DischargeArea Name

AG Arabian Gulf

BRZ Brazil

CALI California

CAR Caribbean

CMED Central Mediteranean

ECC East Coast Canada

ECI East Coast India

EMED Eastern Mediteranean

JAP Japan

KOR Korea

NCH North China

PHIL Philippines

REDS Red Sea

SAF South Africa

SCH South China

SPATL South Pacific Atlantic

SPOR South Pacific Oceania Region

THAI Thailand

TWN Taiwan

UKC United Kingdom Continent

USAC US Atlantic

USG US Gulf

WCI West Coast India

WCSA West Coast South Africa

WMED Western Mediteranean

Source: Clarkson Research, 2011.

Due to port restrictions, VLCCs operate 18 load regions (17 regions less than other crude tankers) and 25 discharge regions (12 less than other crude tankers). Not all loading areas are near oil fields; some are connected to crude oil storage sites (i.e., Korea and Bahamas in the Caribbean).

3.3.2.2 Contract pricing

In the tanker spot market, the price for transporting cargo by tanker ship is called the freight rate and is normally expressed as a function of two components. The first is an annual benchmark called the Worldscale (WS) flat rate (nominal $ per tonne) to allow for an apples-to-apples comparison of different sized ships on roundtrip voyages. The rate represents the voyage costs for a standard vessel and is calculated on a roundtrip basis based on the assumption that the vessel will have to ballast to some other destination empty, although there is no obligation to sail back to the port of origin. The rate is determined by the distance, a standard vessel’s fuel consumption, an average service speed, a benchmark bunker price, and the port costs for each combination of ports.

The second component of the freight rate is a Worldscale (WS) multiplier. The multiplier adjusts the flat rate. A WS multiplier of 100 equals the WS flat rate; a WS multiplier of 50 means the spot rate is one half of the flat rate. In contrast, a time charter rate is specified in $/day terms and reflects capital, operating costs and the prevailing market conditions. The spot and time charter markets are part of the same shipping market and shipowners often tradeoff between operating in the spot market and chartering out their vessels. Given the volatility in the spot freight rate, the spot market can be more risky but can be highly lucrative given good market conditions. A time charter contract is more stable as it locks in a fixed rate over a longer time period (6 months to 3 years normally) (Clarkson Research, 2012a).

It is common in shipping to report a Time-Charter Equivalent (TCE) Rate $/day as a way to compare the two markets. It is calculated by subtracting all voyages costs from all voyage revenue, and then dividing by the number of days in the voyage. TCE allows for a comparison of returns for different voyages for the same ship, or the same voyage completed by different ships. As the numbers being compared relate to the given voyage and not to items like how the ship was financed and make assumptions about the ballast voyage and speed, it does not give the actual earnings for a shipping company (Clarkson Research, 2012d).

Spot and charter contracts are arranged over the counter by brokers who serve as the in- terface between charterers and shipowners. The brokers’ objective is to forge an agreement between the oil company and the shipowner at a mutually acceptable price. Often there are two brokers involved, one for each agent. Tvedt (2011) provides a description of the bargaining process. When a charterer needs a vessel for transportation of oil from a loading location to a refinery, it calls up a broker or a number of brokers, typically 15-20 days before it wants the cargo shipped as it might take that long to get a vessel to the loading area. The charterer’s bro- ker announces to its network of shipowner’s brokers. The shipowner’s brokers are in constant contact with the shipowners who advertise when their ships will be available. The shipowner’s broker drafts a list of ships available in the market and gets an asking price (valid for a certain amount of time) from the shipowner, which it passes onto the charterer’s broker. The game is now in the charterer’s hands to come up with a counteroffer. Normally, a charterer will not accept the first offer, making counteroffers. Now it is the shipowner’s turn to either accept the offer, continue bargaining, or work with another cargo. Part of a broker’s job is to know the market conditions in order to offer advice. The ship’s location, the ask prices from the other ships, time preference of shipowners and charterers as well as other cargoes, are all important factors in the bargaining process.

3.3. Market structure, tanker shipping contracts, and supply side factors 49

3.3.3 Supply side factors