Overview
- Daily earnings for Very Large Crude Carriers have climbed into the mid-six-figure range, with reports on August 28, 2026 showing route-specific spikes from about $510,000 to roughly $647,000 per day.
- The surge traces to the Iran conflict that escalated with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28, 2026, which sharply reduced safe transits through the Strait of Hormuz and cut routine traffic by an estimated 70–80 percent.
- Sinokor Merchant Marine, controlled by Ga-Hyun Chung, spent an estimated $5.9 billion to $7 billion to buy roughly 73 VLCCs in 2026, giving the group control of about 10–15 percent of the global VLCC fleet and concentrating usable capacity.
- A two-tier market has formed: vessels willing to risk Hormuz command very large premiums while ships that reroute around the Cape of Good Hope tie up for much longer voyages, and war-risk insurance has jumped from baseline levels to peaks around 1.5 percent of hull value.
- Near-term relief is limited because new tankers take two to three years to deliver, public owners have posted windfall earnings such as Frontline’s strong Q1 results, and higher freight and insurance costs are already adding several dollars per barrel to delivered crude with knock-on effects for fuel prices.