Rates to transport a 30,000 metric-ton cargo on the benchmark route from Singapore to Japan climbed 2.2 percent to Worldscale 257.08 yesterday, the highest in four months, the London-based Baltic Exchange said. Shipping a gallon of fuel on the route costs 7 cents, according to calculations based on Bloomberg data.

“There still seems some upwards potential for the MR class with the market getting tighter,” said Norway-based shipbroker Lorentzen & Stemoco AS in its latest report. So-called medium- range, or MR, tankers typically carry 30,000 ton cargoes.

Rates on the Singapore to Japan route have surged 20 percent in the last nine days as the number of cargoes for shipment gained after the end of holidays in China and Japan earlier this month. A series of ships hired to carry fuel from Asia to the U.S. has added to the shortage of vessels.

Tesoro Corp., the second-largest refinery in the U.S. West, has hired a vessel to move 30,000 tons of clean oil products on June 5 to the U.S. West Coast from South Korea for US$1.44 million, Trade Sea Shipbroking Pte Ltd. in Singapore said in its market report Thursday. No details were available on the ship and fuel.

Rates to ship 55,000 tons of oil products to Japan from the Middle East rose 1.7 percent to Worldscale 197.31, the ninth day of gains, according to the Baltic Exchange.

The cost of shipping 75,000 tons of clean petroleum products to Japan from the Middle East fell for a second day, losing 0.8 percent to Worldscale 138.33.

Worldscale points are a percentage of a nominal rate, or flat rate, for a specific route. Flat rates, quoted in U.S. dollars a ton, are revised annually by the Worldscale Association in London to reflect changing fuel costs, port tariffs and exchange rates.

The cost to hire a tanker to move 80,000 tons of oil to Singapore from Kuwait fell 3.5 percent to Worldscale 142.88 yesterday. The rate of hiring the same type of vessel to Japan from Indonesia was unchanged for a fifth day at Worldscale 140, according to Bloomberg data.

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