oil shipments aboard supertankers bound for Japan rose 12 percent this week, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Vessels with a total carrying capacity of 10.9 million deadweight tons are heading for the Asian nation, up from 9.7 million tons last week. About 8.2 percent of the fleet of the largest oil tankers signaling future destinations is bound for Japan. The ships would haul about 79.7 million barrels of oil, assuming a conversion factor of 7.33 barrels a ton. The following table shows the destinations and combined carrying capacity in deadweight tons of 434 very large crude carriers, out of a global fleet of 563, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Average drafts are expressed as a percentage of maximum sailing depth and are an indication of cargo size. Each country's percentage share of total oil shipments is shown for the current and prior weeks.
