LNG

A particularly bearish week for the LNG spot market has seen rates drop significantly for both ships and all three routes. Brokers are reporting few inquiries, a long length of tonnage, high inventories meaning product has no home, and a closed ARB, all contributing to the steep declines this week. For the East BLNG1 Aus-Japan, the 2-stroke 174cbm index fell by $9,000 to $45,500, while the TFDE 160cbm lost $8,900 and closed at $31,000. BLNG2 Houston-Cont, traditionally the most liquid of the three routes, experienced the biggest drop this week, pushing sentiment even lower. The 174cbm 2-strokes saw a fall of $17,000, with rates dropping to $27,500, while the TFDE dropped by $14,100 to $18,900, marking the lowest winter market levels ever reported on these routes. BLNG3 Houston-Japan didn’t fare any better, with both the 174cbm and 160cbm indexes losing $17,202 and $10,300 respectively, closing at $45,198 and $34,700.

There isn’t much hope for a quick recovery in rates, and the sentiment is soft while brokers and owners especially analyse what can be done to push levels higher. Unfortunately, the period market also had a tough week, seeing a drop in rates. Both the 6-month and longer periods showed declines, with 6-month rates down $7,550 to $66,200, and 1-year and 3-year periods at $62,625 and $76,350, respectively.

 

LPG

There has been another reversal in the LPG market this week. With a flat week preceding, there was hope that the sentiment would hold, and rates would remain steady. However, with only one reported fixture in the East and little more reported out West, the sentiment has fallen away, and rates have reacted accordingly.

BLPG1 Ras Tanura-Chiba dropped by $9.166 to close below $60 at $58.417, giving a TCE earning equivalent of $38,776 - a drop of $9352 from the previous week’s close. For the Western market, there wasn’t much to report either, with just one reported fixture and a tonnage list expected to lengthen during the next fixing window. Rates dropped, but not as significantly as in the East. For BLPG3 Houston-Chiba, a fall of $5.333 gave the index a close of $114.167 and a daily TCE earning equivalent of $46,522. While BLPG2 Houston-Flushing was completely dead, the fall of only $2.5 meant it closed at $61.5 but with less furore compared to the other routes. A daily TCE earning of $61,778 for Houston-Flushing was down $3176 from the previous week’s publication.