Worldwide trends and an extended position list have pushed VLCC freight rates in the Americas to an 11-week low.

The Caribbean-Singapore route basis 270,000 mt was assessed at a lump sum of $6.7 million Thursday, down $550,000 day on day.

It is the lowest freight rate seen for that route since May 18, when it was assessed at a lump sum of $6.6 million.

While VLCCs in other regions had seen substantial drops in rates over the last few weeks, the Caribbean market had remained healthy.

“The Arab Gulf has come off dramatically and West Africa has come off dramatically, too,” a shipbroker said. “The Caribbean was due to come off.”

The Arab Gulf-Singapore route was assessed at Worldscale 90 on July 21 and came in at w51.5 Thursday. The rate for a West Africa-Far East journey has not seen as dramatic a fall, but on July 10, it was assessed at w97.50, and Thursday it sat at w72.25.

One of the reasons the Caribbean had kept elevated rates was a fairly tight position list, but another shipbroker said there were more ships than it seemed.

“There are five ships available in the Caribbean, but there are another five relets available off the Continent,” he said.

One complete VLCC fixture was reported. Litasco put the Andromeda on subjects at $6.5 million for a US Gulf Coast-Singapore journey with a September 10 loading.

Generally, the Caribbean-Singapore route trades at a $200,000 premium to that of ships out of the US Gulf Coast due to lower port fees in the US.