Tanker Bosses Give Thanks For Six-Figure Rates, Order Drought Crude-tanker rates made headlines around the world in early October for briefly shooting into the stratosphere, reportedly topping $300,000 per day. What's happening now is not garnering the same press, but it could be even more bullish for tanker companies: Rates have persistently stayed above $60,000 a day through most of the fourth quarter and are back above the $100,000-a-day mark. The attention-grabbing rate pinnacle on Oct. 11 wasn't entirely real. Rates reported that day were agreed "on subjects," referring to an approval process before a final deal is struck. Sanity prevailed and those $300,000-a-day contracts evaporated; the highest rates actually achieved were closer to $200,000 a day. Just a handful of very large crude carriers (VLCCs, tankers that carry 2 million barrels of crude oil each) were actually in position to take advantage of the early October run-up, which had been sparked by charterer fears in the wake of the Saudi oil-facility attacks, the security threat to tankers in the Middle East and U.S. sanctions targeting Chinese ship owner COSCO.