Oil Tanker Firm Says It Is Owed $55 Million By A Counterparty In Freight Rate Dispute

Oil tanker firm Hunter Group ASA says it is owed about $55 million in a dispute over charter payments.

The company said the unpaid amount has reached $55.04 million, plus interest. For August, the counterparty paid about $11.75 million less than what Hunter says it was owed. This was the biggest monthly payment gap so far.

The dispute has been going on for six months. Hunter reported a shortfall of $8.31 million in March, $9.22 million in April and $10.37 million in May. The shortfall was $7.88 million in June and $7.19 million in July.

Hunter has not named the counterparty. In May, a person familiar with the matter said the customer involved was commodity trader Mercuria Energy Group.

The two sides disagree over payments linked to a tanker freight benchmark.

Hunter’s contracts are linked to the Baltic Exchange’s TD3C Middle East Gulf-China benchmark. The counterparty disputes its contractual obligations and is expected to argue that the reference rate has been distorted by disruption to the Middle East-China route during the US-Iran war.

Hunter says there is no contractual basis for the lower payments.

The dispute is now in arbitration in London under English law. Hunter began proceedings with the London Maritime Arbitrators Association in June after the amount in dispute reached $28.21 million. It is seeking the unpaid charter payments, along with costs and interest.

Tanker rates have reached record levels.

On Monday, tanker earnings on the Saudi Arabia-China route hit a record $728,000 a day, more than 10 times the average rate last year.

Tanker owners have been asking for higher rates to enter the Persian Gulf because of the risk of attack since the start of the Iran war.

The rate difference is large depending on where a ship starts its voyage.

Ships carrying crude to China from outside the Strait of Hormuz were earning about $302,000 a day. That was still high but much lower than the $728,000 a day assessed for the Saudi Arabia-China route.

Hunter benefited as tanker rates increased.

In the second quarter, its average spot-linked charter-out rate was $452,922 a day. Its average charter-in cost was $51,750 a day, giving it an average margin of $401,172 a day.

The company reported net time charter earnings of $73 million for the quarter and a net profit of $47 million.

Rates continued to rise in the third quarter.

By the end of August, 61% of Hunter’s vessel days for the third quarter were already booked, at about $460,000 a day on average.

Its August bookings averaged about $547,000 a day. Its spot-linked rate at the time was about $666,000 a day.

Hunter reported net time charter earnings of about $31.69 million for August. More than one-third of that amount was unpaid, based on the company’s figures.

Reference: Bloomberg