Asia Tankers-Ample tonnage, few cargoes weigh on VLCC rates

* Owners resist charterers moves to force rates under W50

* West Africa cargo volumes remain steady -broker

By Keith Wallis

SINGAPORE, March 20 (Reuters) - Rates for very large crudecarriers (VLCCs) on key Asian routes will face further pressurenext week even as owners resist attempts to push rates lower,brokers said.

Ship owners were showing a united front to keep rates above50 on the Worldscale measure from the Middle East to Asia, aSingapore-based VLCC broker said on Friday.

"Nobody is doing anything below W50. Owners are keepingnumbers up," the broker said.

Oil majors including Chevron, Shell and BP had all chartered VLCCs at freight rates above W50 thisweek, Reuters freight data showed.

But the broker questioned how long ship owners could stoprates falling as the amount of available tonnage is increasing.

"Owners seem to be in order now ... but there are plenty ofships," said the broker. There are now around 20 VLCCs availablefor charter for the Middle East-Asia route, he said.

The cargo fixture programme for loading in March had beenlargely completed with 123 charters fixtures, "more thanrecently expected," Norwegian ship broker Fearnley said in aweekly note on Wednesday.

"(Vessel) supply for first half of April is neverthelessample and charterers will remain in the driving seat (so) wewill see further softening to the market," Fearnley said.

VLCC rates from the Middle East have been generally slidingfrom W70 - hit on Jan. 16 - although with a short rebound inmid-March.

VLCC rates for the benchmark route from the Middle East toJapan slipped to W49.50 on Thursday, down from W52 lastweek. This was based on a single charter, though, while theprevailing rate remained above W50, Reuters data showed.

Cargo volumes and the demand for ships were just not enoughto support the Middle East rates, the Singapore broker said.

For West Africa to Asia, cargo volumes were steadier, butthe rates were still under pressure.

West Africa to China fell to around W51 on Thursday,against W53.50 a week ago.

In other trades, rates for 80,000-tonne Aframax tankers fromSoutheast Asia to East Coast Australia continued toclimb, rising to W105 on Thursday, against W101 a week earlieron tighter tonnage supply.

Clean tanker rates from Singapore to Japan alsocontinued to surge on a shortage of ships and healthy cargovolumes. Rates rose to W157 on Thursday, up from W124.50 lastweek and the highest since April 2013. (Reporting By Keith Wallis; Editing by Tom Hogue)