LNG

Despite what the LNG indices are suggesting there is life in the spot LNG market, several ships have been put on subs out in the Atlantic with laycans working July windows currently. There will be interest in the Mediterranean as well, with some reported FOB tenders coming into play, though none of this has done much to drive rates in either direction. The Pacific has seen some intra-Basin activity but overall there remains tonnage available to fix (one broker reported seven ships prompt).

Rate wise the BLNG1 Australia to Japan moved only $703 to settle at $46,938. BLNG2 Houston to the Continent showed a rise of $2,238 to close the week at $51,932 and BLNG3 Houston-Japan showed the greatest gains, of $3,024 to finish at $59,627.

Period for the LNG was quiet, after some recent gains rates are calming while charterers find it hard to find flexible and willing ships to fix over the winter period. 6-Month rates were flat at $86,500 while the 1-year terms rose slightly to $80,967, and the 3-year period remained unchanged at $82,300.

 

LPG

A very quiet week for rates on the LPG market, out in the East where the routes hovered within $2-3 the only news was that a few Australian cargoes that were trading did so on premiums, while a replacement cargo ex Ras Tanura helped steady rates towards the end of the week. While those were being worked though one other charterer came out and fixed in the low $80’s so there has been uncertainty on where we would end up. The rates for BLPG1 Ras Tanura-Chiba rose by $1.214 to a close of $83.857 giving a TCE earning equivalent of $66,840.

For the Atlantic market it has been extremely quiet once again, rates moved barely more than $1 over the week for both the BLPG2 and BLPG3 routes, but they did finish down overall but with very little to report this was expected. BLPG3 Houston-Chiba closed at $146.857 and a daily TCE earning equivalent of $71,961 down a $1 over on the week, while BLPG2 Houston-Flushing finished at $82 and $89,715 TCE daily earning equivalent which was a $0.40 cents drop.