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* Owners to resist charterers attempts to push rates down-brokers
* VLCC rates could soften if cargo volumes fall -broker
* Clean tanker rates from Singapore fall as tonnage builds-broker
By Keith Wallis
SINGAPORE, March 27 (Reuters) - Rates for very large crudecarriers (VLCCs) on key Asian routes could stay flat or sliplower next week as owners and charterers tussle to give themarket direction in the face of fewer cargoes, brokers said.
Ship owners were showing a united front to keep ratesbuoyant even though the volume of cargoes fixed so far for Aprilfrom the Middle East to Asia is down compared with March,Singapore-based VLCC brokers said on Friday.
"We expect the market to remain stable and owners will putup a fight and resist further drops," said a Singapore-basedVLCC broker.
"Over the next couple of weeks we expect the pressure tobuild on rates - volumes are already down - and if this trendcontinues a further weakening is to be expected."
Charterers are now fixing cargoes for the 10 days in themiddle of April which is "propping up" freight rates, anotherSingapore VLCC broker said.
"Rates are not coming off, the market has just not got adirection," the second broker said.
But the total number of cargoes fixed so far is downcompared with March, the broker said.
"There is still more tonnage than required, but not an epicamount."
Owners are hoping for a repeat in April of what happened atthe end of last month when there was a flurry of charteringactivity that supported rates, Norwegian ship broker Fearnleysaid in a note on Wednesday.
VLCC rates for the benchmark route from the Middle East toJapan nudged higher to W50 on the Worldscale measure onThursday, up from W49.50 a week earlier.
Supertanker rates from West Africa to China slippedto around W49.50 on Thursday, against W51 a week ago.
In other trades, rates for 80,000-tonne Aframax tankers fromSoutheast Asia to East Coast Australia were slightlyhigher at W105.75 on Thursday, compared with W105 last week ontighter tonnage supply.
Clean tanker rates from Singapore to Japan fell asthe number of ships available for charter rose as cargo volumeseased, a Singapore-based clean tanker broker said on Friday.Rates dropped to W149 on Thursday, down from W157 last weekwhich had been the highest since April 2013. (Reporting by Keith Wallis; Editing by Joseph Radford)
