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NEWS November 13, 2026

The Tanker Market Splits in Two as Crude Freight Drops 17% While Product Tankers Hold Firm

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The Baltic Dirty Tanker Index fell to 4,550 points on November 12, down 16.97% from its November 6 close of 5,480, as crude-tanker freight continued its retreat from October's exceptional highs. Over the same four trading sessions, the Baltic Clean Tanker Index declined just 1.86%, from 2,636 to 2,587. The latest fully verified Baltic Exchange route-by-route weekly report, dated November 6, recorded Middle East Gulf-to-China VLCC time-charter-equivalent earnings of approximately $1.30 million per day, Nigeria-to-UK Continent Suezmax earnings of $224,500 per day, and cross-Mediterranean Aframax earnings of $100,300 per day. Those route assessments predate the November 12 index closes and are not November 13 quotations.

ShipUniverse | Baltic Tanker Weekly | November 13, 2026

Crude Tanker Freight Is Correcting Nine Times Faster Than Clean Freight

The latest verified index close is November 12. The latest fully verified weekly vessel-route assessments are dated November 6.

4,550Dirty tanker index, November 12

2,587Clean tanker index, November 12

−16.97%Dirty index change since November 6

−1.86%Clean index change since November 6

The widening crude-versus-products divide

Baltic Dirty Tanker Index · BDTI 4,550

Down 930 points

November 6 close: 5,480. November 12 close: 4,550. A 16.97% decline over four subsequent trading sessions.

Baltic Clean Tanker Index · BCTI 2,587

Down 49 points

November 6 close: 2,636. November 12 close: 2,587. A 1.86% decline over the same four sessions.

Index levels relative to October 30

Dirty freight, Nov. 1264.8% of Oct. 30 index

Clean freight, Nov. 1290.8% of Oct. 30 index

Both October 30 values are individually normalized to 100%. This compares percentage changes, not the absolute level of two differently constructed indexes.

Three observations from the correction

October 307,019 Dirty tanker index before the latest steep decline

November 65,480 Dirty index at the end of Baltic Week 45

November 124,550 Latest independently verified close used in this report

What these indexes measure: They track representative tanker freight assessments. They do not directly report fleetwide daily profit, the price of crude oil, or the realized earnings of any individual vessel. Route TCE figures in the next section are separately dated November 6.

Index close dates: October 30, November 6 and November 12, 2026. Percentage changes calculated from recorded Baltic tanker index levels.

ShipUniverse | Baltic Route Earnings | Verified November 6

Seventeen Tanker Trades Reveal Where Earnings Held and Where They Broke

Published Baltic round-trip TCE benchmarks compare October 30 with November 6, 2026. Later index closes appear in Part 1.

Class	Route	Trade	Oct. 30 TCE/day	Nov. 6 TCE/day	Change	Nov. 6 freight assessment
VLCC	TD3C	270kt MEG / China	$1,345,710	$1,303,616	−3.1%	WS 1220.63
VLCC	TD34	Gulf of Oman / China	$699,257	$619,969	−11.3%	WS 586.43
VLCC	TD15	260kt West Africa / China	$632,191	$561,731	−11.1%	WS 564.38
Suezmax	TD20	130kt Nigeria / UKC	~$396,100	~$224,500	~−43.3%	WS 430
Suezmax	TD27	130kt Guyana / UKC	~$401,000	~$198,400	~−50.5%	WS 382.22
Suezmax	TD33	145kt US Gulf / UKC	~$411,600	~$172,200	~−58.2%	WS 292.78
Suezmax	TD6	135kt CPC / Augusta	~$769,800	~$513,400	~−33.3%	WS 664.44
Aframax	TD7	80kt Cross UKC	~$466,000	~$242,600	~−47.9%	WS 350
Aframax	TD19	80kt Cross Mediterranean	~$323,300	~$100,300	~−69.0%	WS 300
Aframax	TD25	70kt US Gulf / UKC	~$216,800	~$107,500	~−50.4%	WS 399
LR2	TC1	75kt MEG / Japan	$288,700	$292,000	+1.1%	WS 1005
LR1	TC5	55kt MEG / Japan	$208,900	$212,300	+1.6%	WS 1025
MR	TC17	35kt MEG / East Africa	$112,900	$113,900	+0.9%	WS 896
MR	TC2	37kt ARA / US Atlantic	$16,600	$13,600	−18.1%	WS 206
MR	TC14	38kt US Gulf / UKC	$73,500	$60,800	−17.3%	WS 429
MR	TC21	38kt US Gulf / Caribbean	$77,900	$60,600	−22.2%	$1.47M lumpsum
Handymax	TC6	30kt Cross Mediterranean	$108,900	$88,100	−19.1%	WS 448

Showing 17 of 17 routes

VLCC · TD3C $1.30M/day

Middle East Gulf to China benchmark TCE, November 6. Down only 3.1% from October 30.

Suezmax · TD20 ~$224.5K/day

Nigeria to UK Continent. A roughly 43% decline between the two weekly endpoints.

Product LR2 · TC1 $292K/day

Middle East Gulf to Japan. Slight weekly earnings increase despite the broader correction.

Three different tanker markets, not one freight rate

VLCC: Very large crude-carrier benchmarks remained extraordinarily high on certain Middle Eastern routes in the November 6 assessment.

Suezmax and Aframax: Atlantic and Mediterranean routes experienced much larger relative declines. Charterers obtained substantially lower assessed voyage rates.

Product carriers: Middle Eastern LR earnings held up better than several Atlantic and Mediterranean MR routes. The clean index alone conceals these route differences.

Data integrity: The figures are round-trip time-charter equivalents under Baltic's standardized assumptions, not invoices or owner profit. Approximate symbols indicate published "around", "under" or "over" values. Changes were calculated from the two published endpoints; some Baltic narrative change amounts differ slightly from their endpoint figures. Nothing in this table represents a verified November 12 route quotation.

Benchmark dates: October 30 and November 6, 2026. UKC = UK Continent; ARA = Amsterdam–Rotterdam–Antwerp; MEG = Middle East Gulf; CPC = Caspian Pipeline Consortium.

ShipUniverse | Baltic Tanker Market Earnings Simulator

How Fast Can Tanker Earnings Change?

Apply your own market and utilization scenarios to dated Baltic round-trip TCE benchmarks. Compare fleet revenue, operating expense and illustrative cash contribution.

Vessel and earnings assumptions

Baltic route / vessel benchmark

Number of vessels

Scenario period (days)

Earning-day utilization (%)

Hypothetical TCE change (%)

0% starts at the dated November 6 TCE

Vessel OPEX ($/calendar day)

Employment / cost structure

Owned-ship financing ($/day)

Bareboat hire ($/day)

Other costs ($/calendar day)

Advanced rate coverage and unexpected costs

Override TCE benchmark ($/day)

0 uses published November 6 value

Earning days at fixed rate (%)

Fixed TCE ($/earning day)

Additional off-hire (days/vessel)

Other one-time cost ($/vessel)

Published Baltic round-trip TCE · November 6 $1,303,616/day TD3C: Middle East Gulf to China

Scenario fleet cash contribution Calculating...

Illustrative cash surplus after entered operating, financing or bareboat, and other costs over the selected period.

—Modeled blended TCE per earning day

—Earning days per vessel

—Fleet TCE receipts in scenario

—Operating and capital-related cash costs

—Change versus unchanged-rate scenario

—Blended TCE required for cash break-even

Benchmark-based illustrative scenario.

Cash-flow stress test

Unchanged-rate TCE receipts—

Scenario TCE receipts—

Modeled vessel costs—

Model: Earning days are selected calendar days multiplied by utilization, less any extra off-hire. Daily spot TCE is the published reference adjusted by the user-entered rate change. In Advanced mode, part of the earning days may instead earn a separate fixed TCE. Operating, financing or bareboat costs are charged for all calendar days. One-time costs are added separately. Debt service is treated as an illustrative cash obligation, not an accounting expense.

Market-data limitation: The route benchmark dates from November 6, 2026. The later November 12 BDTI and BCTI movements must not be mechanically applied as route-specific TCE changes. The calculator is not a live Baltic price feed, a fixture quotation or an earnings forecast. TCEs already account for standard voyage costs, so avoid double-counting bunkers and port expenses. Differences in vessel specification, positioning, load factor, voyage duration, employment contracts, financing and timing can materially alter results.

Factual route inputs: Baltic Exchange Tanker Report, Week 45, dated November 6, 2026. Costs, shocks, employment rates and future utilization are adjustable assumptions.

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Reports, news and industry coverage

Crude Tanker Freight Is Correcting Nine Times Faster Than Clean Freight

The widening crude-versus-products divide

Index levels relative to October 30

Three observations from the correction

Seventeen Tanker Trades Reveal Where Earnings Held and Where They Broke

Three different tanker markets, not one freight rate

How Fast Can Tanker Earnings Change?

Vessel and earnings assumptions

Cash-flow stress test

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