Tanker rates rise as US refiners boost shipments to Latin America

London

TANKER rates are increasing to the highest level in at least three years as a surge in US refining boosts demand for ships to carry processed fuels to Latin America and the Caribbean.

Vessels carrying about 38,000 tonnes of refined fuels to Rio de Janeiro from Houston earned an average of US$31,050 a day last week, according to data from Clarkson Plc. That's the highest since at least December 2010, when the world's largest shipbroker began publishing the data.