The tanker is capable of holding 60,000-ton (about 500,000 bbl) cargoes.

Shipbrokers reported the vessel chartered from the U.S. Atlantic Coast around the end of October or early November with options for further use, rather than specifying a destination. Market sources said this was likely floating storage, though no charter duration was given.

Satellite tracking shows the vessel currently making a trans-Atlantic voyage and signaling its arrival in New York within a day. The Iris Victoria appeared to load at the Indian port of Sikka on Sept. 23, next calling at Muscat, possibly to disembark armed guards, and then transiting the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean.

After briefly halting at Gibraltar in mid-October, the ship crossed the Atlantic for New York.

The purported use of the vessel comes amid reports of a diesel surplus in Europe, where a premium on onshore storage of the distillate has seen tankers delay or lengthen voyages and wait outside ports for up to a week to discharge.

Market sources said it is unlikely that the Iris Victoria charter heralds a similar demand for temporary storage of refined products stateside, and that this may be a one-off.

“To my knowledge the interest (to use ships as storage tanks) is there, but there haven’t been more such deals on this side of the Atlantic,” a source told OPIS.

“A growing issue may be (freight) rates, which are strengthening and are poised for directional strength through December.”