Supertanker shortage pushes oil freight costs to record, curbing long-haul crude flows

September 19, 2026 at 04:30 PM2 min

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A shortage of supertankers has driven oil shipping costs to record highs, making some long-distance crude trades uneconomical. The squeeze is prompting refiners to seek supplies closer to home, threatening to disrupt global crude flows. The surge has lifted the value of the world's largest oil tanker equities to a record of almost $70 billion.

Key Facts

Moving a cargo from Houston to Asia now adds about $26 a barrel, or $52 million per cargo, to the cost of supplying the world's largest crude-importing region.
Very large crude carriers hauling 2 million barrels from the Persian Gulf to China are earning upward of $1.2 million a day.
The value of the world's largest oil tanker equities soared to a record of almost $70 billion this week.
Trafigura Group chief economist Saad Rahim said at the Bloomberg Commodity Investor Forum on Thursday that it has never been this expensive to move oil around.

Freight Cost Surge

The jump in shipping costs is being driven by a shortage of available supertankers, with barely any of the ships left for hire in some parts of the world. Moving a cargo from Houston to Asia now adds about $26 a barrel, or $52 million a cargo, to the cost of supplying the world's largest crude-importing region. That is equal to roughly a quarter of the price of West Texas Intermediate futures, whereas before the war shipping typically accounted for only a tiny fraction of the cost. On the industry's main benchmark route, very large crude carriers hauling 2 million barrels of crude from the Persian Gulf to China are earning upward of $1.2 million a day. Similar pressures are now spreading across the freight market globally, according to industry executives and brokers.

Market Impact

The squeeze is making faraway barrels less attractive and encouraging refiners to snap up supplies closer to home if they can find them. Oil traders are concerned that higher costs make it unprofitable for some refiners to turn crude into fuels, deterring them from buying cargoes that have to sail over long distances, even when demand to make diesel and gasoline is strong. Some long-haul routes that became crucial after wars disrupted energy flows are now looking unattractive as a result of the surge. The rally is minting fortunes for the small group of shipowners that dominate the tanker market, with the value of the world's largest oil tanker equities soaring to a record of almost $70 billion this week.