A tighter tonnage outlook and more cargoes fuelled rates on the North Atlantic before easing back towards the end of the week. However, the C8 route - Gibraltar-Hamburg range trans-Atlantic round voyage – still closed at $62,938 while the Continent/Mediterranean to China-Japan range finished on Thursday at $91,494.    The Panamax-Kamsarmax outlook remained upbeat with an 82,000 dwt vessel fixed on a trans-Atlantic round trip at $21,300 while a similarly sized ship open in southern Spain was fixed on a fronthaul voyage via the Gulf at $27,500.     But it is the tanker trades that continue to generate the strongest returns. The TC1 index for a 75,000dwt LR2 rose by more than 40 points during the week, with a round-trip timecharter equivalent climbing from $237,000 to $252,100 a day. Meanwhile the TC15 index for an 80,000 dwt vessel from Skikda in Algeria to China, Japan, rose to a round-trip timecharter equivalent of $59,600, up by $6,200 a day over the week.    The TD3C index – a 270,000 dwt VLCC between Ras Tanura and Ningbo – had fallen by less than ten points on Thursday from the previous Friday but remained at Worldscale 1,157.5. This is equivalent to a daily round-trip timecharter equivalent of $1,235,414 for the Baltic’s standard vessel.    Suezmax owners may not be in the VLCC league when it comes to earnings but are still generating remarkable returns.   

The TD20 Nigeria/UK Continent voyage for a 130,000 dwt vessel eased by almost 6% over the week but still generated a round-trip timecharter equivalent of $228,400 a day.