Venezuela’s crude export recovery is now running into a hard tanker-loading bottleneck. The operating issue is berth access, slow transfer, cargo quality, demurrage and vessel waiting time.
1. Venezuela Export Bottleneck: Tankers Wait Up to 30 Days
• Tankers are waiting up to 30 days to load Venezuelan crude because of ageing terminal infrastructure, power outages and crude-quality problems.
• Venezuela’s recent export flow has struggled to move above 1.25 million barrels per day, even as crude output, stock drawdown and demand have improved.
• The delays are visible around Jose and neighbouring Pozuelos anchorages, where dozens of tankers are waiting for oil cargoes.
• Jose handles about 70 percent of Venezuela’s overall exports, making the terminal bottleneck a national crude-loading constraint, not only a local port delay.
• Company shipping reports show equipment malfunctions, quality issues and power interruptions during loading and discharge operations at Jose this year.
2. Loading Window, Demurrage and Cargo-Quality Exposure
• Loading disruption is triggering disputes over demurrage, crude quality and ship contamination.
• Slow transfer from tanks to vessels is keeping tankers alongside beyond assigned loading windows.
• Customers are turning to alternative terminals and ship-to-ship transfer areas, where oil leaks staining tanker hulls have reportedly created additional delay and cost.
• PDVSA is increasingly facing demurrage charges running into thousands of dollars for vessels waiting beyond loading windows.
• PDVSA has agreed to settle some demurrage exposure only in crude, adding commercial friction where customers also claim surcharges or quality discounts.
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3. European Inland Flow: CMA CGM Adds Low-Water Emergency Fee
• CMA CGM said it will apply an inland emergency fee because low water levels in the Rhine and other European rivers are disrupting barge traffic.
• The carrier said low water has reduced transport capacity, increased congestion, extended terminal dwell times and raised operating costs.
• The fee applies to all transport modes for inland shipments to or from locations routed through Antwerp, Zeebrugge and Rotterdam.
• CMA CGM said the surcharge will be EUR 50 per container for Belgium and Netherlands locations, and EUR 75 per container for Germany, Switzerland and France.
• Forwarders and cargo owners should treat Rhine low water as a landside schedule and cost issue linked to ocean bookings, not only an inland transport problem.
4. Hormuz Maritime Layer: Commodity Crossings Stay in Single Digits
• Reuters reported that seven commodity vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, half the previous day’s tally, according to Kpler ship-tracking data.
• Reuters reported one day earlier that Wednesday crossings stood at nine, unchanged from Tuesday, keeping the operating picture inside a suppressed single-digit range.
• NATO’s top commander convened a videoconference to facilitate possible member contributions supporting freedom of navigation, but a spokesperson said this is not a NATO mission.
• The operational issue is not diplomacy alone. It is unclear escort authority, unresolved transit confidence, war-risk exposure, cargo timing and vessel-routing uncertainty.
• Masters and operators should treat Hormuz as controlled and unstable, not normalized, until vessel flow, security arrangements, insurance treatment and coastal-state instructions materially change.
5. Sanctions and Vessel Screening: OFAC Blocks Ecuador Fishing Vessels
• The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated 15 Ecuador-based targets and identified 10 fishing vessels as blocked property.
• OFAC said the network used Ecuador-based fishing vessels near Manta to support cocaine transfers to go-fast vessels moving north through the Eastern Pacific.
• The blocked vessels are Todos Vuelven, Arca De Noe III, Arca De Noe III Jr, Arca De Noe IV, Arca De Noe V, Conquista, Siempre Mi Arca, Rey De Arca, Costa Marlin and Solo Es Mejor.
• The U.S. Treasury said the vessels provided fuel, food, medical services, law-enforcement monitoring and other logistics to narcotics movements.
• Port agents, bunker suppliers, insurers, seafood buyers, logistics providers and financial institutions with U.S. nexus should screen vessel names, owners, operators, payment chains and beneficial interests before service.
Strategic Summary & Actions Required
• Masters and agents calling Venezuelan crude terminals should verify berth readiness, terminal transfer capacity, power reliability, cargo quality status and local anchorage congestion before tendering NOR.
• Charterers and operators should protect laytime, demurrage, contamination, hull-cleaning, quality-dispute and alternate-loading language before fixing Venezuelan stems.
• Ship managers and P&I teams should preserve terminal instructions, cargo samples, transfer logs, delay notices, hull-condition evidence and protest letters where Venezuela loading delays or contamination claims arise.
• European liner and forwarding teams should price Rhine-linked inland disruption into delivery commitments through Antwerp, Zeebrugge and Rotterdam, including barge alternatives, rail capacity and emergency surcharges.
• Gulf operators should keep Hormuz in the risk register as a suppressed-flow transit area, while compliance teams screen the 10 OFAC-blocked Ecuador fishing vessels before port service, bunkering, finance, insurance, cargo purchase or logistics support.
Operational Status
RED – Venezuela Crude-Loading Bottleneck / Tanker Waiting Time up to 30 Days / Demurrage and Cargo-Quality Disputes / Hormuz Single-Digit Flow / Vessel Sanctions Screening
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Sources
Reuters, U.S. Treasury OFAC, Associated Press, CMA CGM, The DeepDraft
This update is part of the DeepDraft SITREP series covering developing maritime operational situations.
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