Worldscale
Worldscale (WS) is the standard tanker freight rate index expressing voyage hire as a percentage of a published flat-rate schedule per Baltic Exchange.
Last refreshed: 18 May 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
When TD3C hits WS458, what does that mean in plain dollars for a supertanker voyage?
Timeline for Worldscale
Brent-Dubai EFS over $6, TD3C at WS458
European Oil Markets- What does Worldscale mean in tanker shipping?
- Worldscale is the annual freight rate scale published by Worldscale Association. WS100 equals the published flat rate (in $/tonne) for a given route, calculated to yield a standard breakeven voyage. Spot rates are quoted as a percentage of WS100 — so WS458 means 4.58 times the flat rate.
- How do you convert Worldscale points to dollars per day?
- Worldscale points convert to a Time Charter Equivalent (TCE) in dollars per day by calculating the voyage revenue at the WS rate, subtracting port costs, canal tolls, and bunkers, then dividing by voyage days. At WS458.75 on TD3C in May 2026, the TCE was $462,102/day.Source: Lowdown european-oil-markets
- Why is the Worldscale flat rate recalculated every year?
- Worldscale flat rates are recalculated annually to reflect updated bunker prices, port costs, and canal dues. The annual reset means that the same WS level in different years represents different actual dollar earnings, so traders track TCE (dollars per day) for year-on-year comparisons.
Background
Worldscale is the annual freight rate reference scale published by Worldscale Association (London and New York), which calculates a theoretical flat rate in dollars per tonne for thousands of tanker voyage combinations. WS100 represents 100% of the Association's published flat rate for a given route — calculated to yield a standard breakeven voyage result assuming a reference vessel, defined canal costs, bunker prices, and port charges. Individual spot charters are then quoted as a percentage of WS100: WS50 means the charterer pays 50% of the flat rate; WS458 means they pay 4.58 times the flat rate.
The annual recalculation of Worldscale flat rates is a critical event in tanker markets. Rates are set once per year (typically for the calendar year) based on assumed bunker costs; when actual bunker prices diverge significantly from the assumption, the effective earnings profile of a WS quote changes substantially during the year. This means that a WS458.75 quote on TD3C in May 2026 reflects not just high market demand but also the relationship between the 2026 published flat rate and current bunker and port costs.
Worldscale points are universally used across dirty and clean tanker markets as the standard quotation format, allowing charterers and owners to compare rates across different routes and vessel sizes on a normalised basis. The conversion to Time Charter Equivalent (TCE) in dollars per day is required for meaningful cross-route comparison; TD3C at WS458.75 translated to a TCE of $462,102/day on 11 May 2026, meaning the vessel earned that amount net of voyage costs on a daily basis — an extraordinary level that reflects the confluence of Hormuz disruption, EFS arbitrage, and shadow fleet tightening in the VLCC segment.