SINGAPORE - Freight rates on key Asian trades for very large crude carriers (VLCCs), which have fallen from a five-year high in early October, are likely to nudge higher on increased cargo volumes although excess tonnage supply is likely to cap rates, ship brokers said on Friday. Supertanker rates from the Middle East to Japan dropped to about 46-47 on the Worldscale measure on Oct. 28, the lowest since Sept. 4 on thinner cargo volumes and increased tonnage. VLCC rates from West Africa to China were also negatively affected by the tanker supply-cargo demand imbalance. Rates on both routes rebounded on Thursday following a flurry of charters after owners resisted charterers’ attempts to push prices lower, a Singapore-based VLCC broker said. “Rates will move up a little bit. There is more upside but I don’t think they’ll do W60 today,” the Singapore broker said. “The market won’t fly - there are too many ships,” the broker said. Supertanker earnings are around $50,000-$60,000 a day, down from a peak of $111,450 a day on Oct. 8 when Unipec fixed the 318,430 dwt (deadweight tonne) TI Topaz, the highest rate since June 2010, according to ship brokers and Reuters freight data. “I think rates have stopped falling and will hover around W50 for a while,” a Swiss-based VLCC ship broker said. “The market needs a lot more activity to see rates rise,” the Swiss broker said. About 52 cargoes from the Middle East have so far been fixed for loading in the first 20 days of November compared with 127 for the whole of October, according to brokers and Reuters chartering data. Despite the fall in rates average daily earnings for VLCCs this year are likely to be the highest since 2008, according to shipping services firm Clarksons Research. “(The) consensus for VLCC freight rates in 2015 is $52,500 for the full year and around $55,000-$60,000 for Q4 with 2016 consensus for the full year of $44,000,” Hugo De Stoop, chief financial officer of Euronav, one of the world’s top five tanker owners, told Reuters. That compared with $92,511 per day in 2008, Clarksons data showed. Freight rates for the Middle East to Japan benchmark route fell to W48 on Thursday, against W61.50 a week earlier. VLCC rates from West Africa to China dropped to W57 on Thursday, the lowest since Sept. 16, compared with W67 the same day last week. Rates for an 80,000-dwt Aframax tanker from Southeast Asia to East Coast Australia remained flat at around W93 on Thursday. Clean tanker rates from Singapore to Japan were also flat at W114 on Thursday, from W115 last week.