Worldscale: tanker rates, flat rates and calculation
Worldscale quotes tanker freight as a percentage of the licensed flat rate for a route. Multiply that reference rate by the agreed points to find freight per tonne, then apply the billable quantity.
Updated 10 August 2026
What Worldscale means
Worldscale is the common quoting system for much of the crude-oil and petroleum-products tanker market. Each listed voyage has a nominal flat rate in US dollars per tonne. The negotiated Worldscale points state what percentage of that reference rate will be paid.
A short Mediterranean movement and a long Arabian Gulf voyage have different mileage, time, fuel and port-cost assumptions. Giving each route its own reference rate lets the market negotiate both as Worldscale points. The points are a quoting convention, not a complete comparison of voyage earnings. Owners still test the actual bunker, port, timing and ballast exposure behind each fixture.
Worldscale calculation
The arithmetic has two steps. Use the flat rate for the named voyage and calendar year. Then use the billable quantity under the charter party.
- Freight per tonne = flat rate × Worldscale points ÷ 100.
- Total freight = freight per tonne × billable cargo quantity.
Take a products cargo of 30,000 tonnes on a route with an illustrative flat rate of USD 20.00 per tonne, fixed at WS 120. The freight rate is USD 20.00 × 120 ÷ 100, which gives USD 24.00 per tonne. Applied to 30,000 tonnes, total freight is USD 720,000.
At WS 95 the same illustrative flat produces USD 19.00 per tonne and USD 570,000 on the same quantity. In a fixture, check any minimum quantity, tolerance, deadfreight provision, freight tax and other charter-party terms before treating that multiplication as the final invoice.
The Worldscale flat rate
The scale is the New Worldwide Tanker Nominal Freight Scale, universally shortened to Worldscale. The Worldscale Associations in London and New York publish a licensed schedule of flat rates for a calendar year, covering many port-to-port combinations.
Each flat rate is a nominal dollar figure per tonne derived from the scheme's standard vessel and operating assumptions, including speed, consumption, bunker prices, port costs, canal costs and voyage time. It is a reference basis, not a forecast, freight offer or statement of an individual owner's actual cost. The current flat-rate data is licensed. An illustrative number on this page is not a substitute for the schedule used in a live fixture.
Reading Worldscale points
The flat rate is WS 100. Everything else is quoted as a percentage of it. A fixture at WS 120 pays 120 per cent of the published flat rate. A fixture at WS 85 pays 85 per cent of the nominal flat-rate basis. That does not prove the voyage is loss-making. The owner's actual return also depends on the vessel, bunker exposure, port costs, ballast leg, waiting time and commission.
Because the flat rate is fixed for the calendar year and the points move daily, the points are the market signal. When a broker says the route is trading in the low hundreds, that is a statement about supply and demand for tonnage, not about the cost of fuel.
When freight is not quoted in points
Worldscale suits full cargoes of crude oil and petroleum products on established routes. Away from that, other structures are more common.
Chemicals, vegetable oils and part cargoes are usually quoted per tonne, because the parcel shares a vessel with other parcels and the economics turn on tank allocation rather than a whole voyage. Gas parcels and unusual movements are often lumpsum, a single figure for the whole voyage regardless of quantity. Time charters are quoted in dollars per day, since the charterer is buying the vessel's time rather than the carriage of a specific cargo.
Laytime and demurrage on a tanker
Tanker laytime is normally a single total allowance covering loading and discharge together, commonly 72 running hours, counted continuously including Sundays and holidays. That is a shorter and simpler structure than the rate-of-work allowances common in dry bulk.
The demurrage rate is agreed in the charter party as a daily figure. It is not calculated from the freight, and it is not left to be worked out later. It is one of the main terms, settled before the vessel is fixed, which is why a demurrage number appears in the recap alongside the freight. How laytime and demurrage work covers the mechanics in full.
What moves the number
Position is the largest factor. An owner with a vessel already open in the load area, at the right time, is competing on a different basis from one who has to ballast in.
After that, it is the cargo and the vessel. The last three cargoes and the tank coating decide which ships can take the parcel at all. Vetting status decides which ships the charterer and the terminal will accept. Draft, manifold and terminal restrictions narrow the list further. Each of those constraints removes candidates, and a shorter list of acceptable ships is what pushes the points up long before anyone argues about the rate.
Common questions
What does WS 120 actually mean?
It means 120 per cent of the Worldscale flat rate published for that voyage in that year. The flat rate is a dollar figure per tonne, so WS 120 on a flat rate of USD 20.00 is USD 24.00 per tonne. WS 100 is the flat rate itself. A number below 100 is below that nominal reference, but it does not by itself show whether the voyage is profitable.
Who publishes the flat rates and how often?
The Worldscale Associations in London and New York publish a new licensed schedule for each calendar year. The flat rates use standard assumptions for the vessel, speed, consumption, bunker prices, port costs and voyage time. They provide a common nominal basis for quoting freight, not an owner's actual cost or breakeven on the fixture.
Why do the flat rates change every year if the market moves daily?
They are deliberately separate. The nominal flat-rate schedule is fixed for the calendar year, while the negotiated points move with the market. The annual assumptions can change even when the physical voyage does not, which is why a comparison across years needs both the points and the relevant year's flat rate.
Is chemical business quoted in Worldscale too?
Sometimes, but per tonne or lumpsum pricing is more common on chemicals, vegetable oils and small parcels. Worldscale is at its most useful on crude oil and petroleum products moving in full cargoes on well-travelled routes.
This guide describes general market practice and is not legal advice. The signed contract, charter party and transaction-specific advice take precedence.