Worldscale flat

WS100, the benchmark flat rate published each year by the Worldscale Associations for every standard tanker route. It expresses, in US dollars per tonne, the freight a 75,000 dwt standard vessel needs to break even on that voyage given updated bunker prices, port costs, and exchange rates. Fixtures are then quoted as a percentage of flat: WS75 is 75 percent of the published flat rate, WS200 is double. Because the flat absorbs the cost differences between routes, a single Worldscale points figure compares earnings across trades.