LNG

We entered the new year with the continued stalemate for LNG freight pricing. A tighter tonnage list at the front end and some enquires had the potential to shift the tide of current pricing but with many cargoes being taken in internally or FOB tenders failing to materialise, there was not much to fundamentally shift the direction. A few optimisation opportunities are being talked about from Australia for end January/early February, but little has happened as yet. Rates themselves have remained flat, a break over Christmas and New Year meant that there was a bigger gap in the index than usual, but we saw negative movement across all three routes and both ship sizes. The 160cbm BLNG1g lost $4,491 this week closing at $64,221, meanwhile the 174cbm BLNG1_74g fell $5,817 to finish at $84,913. In the Atlantic, both 174cbm routes BLNG2_74g, and BLNG3_74g saw the biggest falls dropping $9,000, and $7,000 respectively to finish at $109,000 and $116,000. The 160cbm BLNG2g and BLNG3g finished slightly better but still down overall at $89,000 and $93,000 respectively.

Period has been quiet over the winter period, we published 6-months, 1-year, and 3-year with no change from the end of 2023 at $92,267, $96,000, and $68,300 respectively.

 

LPG

We begin the new year with a short week, following the bank holiday on 1st January so there was not much fixing going on. Position lists being updated showed that most ships travelling to the US were doing so via the Cape of Good Hope. Any ships (of which one was reported) going via the Panama in ballast are Pmax ships. A relatively quiet fixing week in the East meant that BLPG1 hovered around mid-high $130’s, gaining only $0.857 on the week to give our first weeks close at $137.143 and a daily TCE earning of $126,439.

The Atlantic some would have expected to have upsets on rates with BLPG2 now being affected by the new EU ETS scheme which came into effect on 1st January. But with only one completed fixture that has an option into flushing fixed at $120, and most brokers reporting little changes to rates its effect is yet to be realised. Rates themselves hovered around this level with BLPG2 closing at $119.6 a daily TCE earning of $143,905. BLPG3 had a correction mid-week after an initial rise to $126 before closing at $221 an overall fall of $2.571 and a daily TCE earning of $133,998.