Tanker rates are exploding as participation in energy continues to expand.
By Sam Gatlin, Jason Perz
November 14, 2025
Last week, we talked about the rotation into energy, one of the most unloved sectors of this bull market.
Now that rotation is coming to life.
We're not only seeing new highs in absolute terms, but the relative trends are turning as well. Energy is taking on a brand-new leadership role versus the broader market.
But the rotation doesn’t stop there...
When energy leadership is real, it spills over into the infrastructure that moves it. This includes tankers, barges, and marine freight carriers hauling the world’s Crude Oil and refined products from port to port.
This is one of the hottest energy industry groups right now.
Shipping rates are exploding, and few investors have noticed. These are brand-new trends, and we believe they have plenty of room to run.
Let's start with the Gold Rush Marine Shippers Index.
Our Marine Shippers Index - an equal-weight basket of 16 global shippers - is breaking out of a textbook bearish-to-bullish reversal pattern and surging to new 52-week highs.
No single stock is driving this. The strength is broad-based, and it’s coming from the highest-beta corner of the energy complex.
Seeing this, it's clear that demand for moving hydrocarbons is ramping up fast.
The Breakwave Tanker Shipping ETF $BWET makes this point clear.
BWET is the first and only ETF that tracks Crude Oil Freight futures, and it's ripping to new all-time highs.
This is the purest play on oil tanker rates you can get. It’s not a tradable vehicle for us - liquidity is too thin - but it’s an invaluable barometer for global energy flow.
Since bottoming at the beginning of the year, the price has surged more than 150%, and the momentum (14-day RSI) is making new all-time highs, confirming the power behind this breakout.
When we see tanker rates soar like this, it's often a signal of a tightening energy supply chain. Crude Oil demand is robust enough to stress logistics capacity, and producers are willing to pay higher freight costs to get barrels moving.
While higher rates have yet to translate into higher Crude Oil, Gasoline, and Diesel prices, we believe it will soon. Stay tuned!
