Chartering an oil tanker costs more than launching a SpaceX rocket

The cost of chartering a tanker to transport oil from the United States to China has reached approximately $80 million, around $6 million more than the cost of launching SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket into space.

TodayPress TV reports, citing Bloomberg, that the cost of tanker transport has surged.

According to the agency, the exceptionally high prices are linked to a global shortage of tankers following escalating tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. Oil companies in the Middle East have been forced to transfer oil from one tanker to another using a “shuttle” method. This extends each voyage by approximately one week. The intermittent flow of trade caused by the region’s unstable and constantly changing situation is also placing additional pressure on the global tanker fleet.

According to Russell Hardy, chief executive of international commodities trading company Vitol, available shipping capacity is indeed insufficient to meet everyone’s needs. He said price volatility had become so extreme that traders were struggling to calculate the exact cost of transportation.

Aysel Matlab