Chinese shipowners who are willing to load cargoes from Iran after tighter sanctions came into effect on May 1, have hiked the freight rate to more than $100/mt, compared with $70-75/mt in late April, market sources said Thursday.
One shipbroker even pegged the latest freight rate at $120/mt.
Before the sanctions were imposed, the cost of moving methanol from Iran to China was around $45-55/mt.
Market sources said that at least three to eight Chinese-owned vessels of around 13,000-19,000 dwt could be plying the route in May and June.
At $100/mt, the cost of shipping methanol from Iran to China comes to around 25% of the CFR price, compared with around 14% earlier.
Traders in China said this level was still acceptable to the Iranians, as their methanol production cost is low.
Methanol was assessed at $410/mt CFR China by Platts on Thursday, down $3.50/mt from the day before.
After May 1, European Union-based insurers are not allowed to provide insurance cover for Iranian petrochemical shipments to non-EU countries.
But some Chinese shipowners have been able to secure insurance cover from both large and small Protection and Indemnity clubs in China, a trader told Platts earlier.
Source: Baoying Ng, Platts