Worldscale is a unified system of establishing payment of freight rate for a given

oiltanker's cargo. Worldscale was established in November 1952 as an average total cost
of shipping oil from one port to another by ship. A large table was created. The same
scale is used today, although it was merged with the American Tanker Rate Schedule
(ATRS) in 1969, and by 2002 the table included the average cost of 320,000 voyages in
permutations of from 1 load and 1 discharge port to 5 loads and 10 discharge ports.
Worldscale is produced by Worldscale Association (NYC) Inc. for the Americas and by
Worldscale Association (London) Ltd. for the rest of the world. The freight for a given ship
and voyage is normally expressed in a percentage of the published rate, and is supposed
to reflect the freight market demand at the time of fixing.

Following are some samples.

From Yokohama US$/tonn Miles

to: e
Adelaide 10.60 10,57
4
Aden 12.39 13,03
8
Chiba 2.90 50

In negotiating a price to pay, the above table is referred to as WS100, or 100% of

Worldscale. The actual price negotiated between shipowner and charterer can range
from 40% to 200% and is referred to respectively as WS40 to WS200 depending on how
much loss the first is willing to take on that voyage and how much the latter is willing to
pay.

INTERTANKO

Worldscale is unique to tanker voyage chartering. The purpose is to enable a tanker to

obtain the same net return per day at the same Worldscale percentage regardless of the
voyage actually undertaken. Thus the profitability (or loss) of various voyages can easily
be compared. INTERTANKO, as the only industry group, keeps a close dialogue with the
Worldscale Associations in London and New York to ensure that the Worldscale system
provides as good comparisons as is practicable.
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The first tanker scale was introduced during World War II and has subsequently been
further developed and refined. The purpose is to provide a system whereby a tanker can
obtain the same net return per day at the same Worldscale percentage regardless of the
voyage actually undertaken.

INTERTANKO has a Worldscale Committee which keeps touch with the Worldscale
Associations in London and New York, both on issues of overall principles and on details.
The INTERTANKO secretariat provides members with interpretation of Worldscale issues,
provides the Worldscale Associations with port costs and other relevant information. The
Worldscale Associations have introduced an electronic version of the Scale, which opens
up for much speedier corrections and amendments, as well as provides users of the
system access to a far greater number of flat rates than in the printed version.
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INTERTANKO’s objectives in a Worldscale context are:

• To ensure that any schedule of nominal freight rates should be as useful for
comparison purposes as is practicable
• To keep under review the Schedule of Nominal Freight Rates published by the
Worldscale Association or any other standard of reference intended to be used for
the comparison of rates and market levels
• To co-operate and develop a constructive dialogue with such interested parties in
the tanker industry as may be useful to further the Committee's aim
• To generate ideas and make recommendations, where appropriate, both in terms
of policy and in specific cases

INTERTANKO's publication: "Worldscale - A Tanker Chartering Tool", gives a description

of the Worldscale system, what it does and what it does not do. Please see
https://www.intertanko.com/shopping/ShowItem.aspx?id=19069