LNG

The LNG market has faced yet another challenging week, with a general downward trend observed across most routes and vessel types.

The BLNG1 Gladstone–Tokyo route for 160k cbm TFDE vessels experienced the only rate increase, rising by $200 to settle at $5,400 per day. In contrast, 174k cbm 2-Stroke vessels saw a decline of $1,343, closing at $10,350 per day.

On the BLNG2 Sabine–Isle of Grain route, both 160k cbm TFDE and 174k cbm 2-Stroke vessels saw further declines. The 160k cbm TFDE index dropped by $400, closing at $700 per day, while the 2-Stroke index fell by $1,458, settling at $3,800 per day. Similarly, the BLNG3 Sabine–Tokyo route also experienced a decline. The 174k cbm 2-Stroke index dropped by $242 to $7,900, while the 160k cbm TFDE index fell by $1,300, closing at $1,900.

The term market also saw further rate decreases. Six-month rates decreased by $6,250, settling at $16,000. One-year rates dropped by $3,600, closing at $25,750, while three-year rates saw a reduction of $2,200, closing at $46,000. These declines reflect the continued bearish sentiment currently prevailing in the spot market, suggesting further pressure in the near term.

Overall, the market remains stagnant, widely due to the current oversupply of vessels. As stated previously, the market sentiment remains weak, and unless significant changes occur, this trend is likely to persist.


LPG

With the Far East market emerging from the Lunar New Year, there was hope for a potential uptick in the LPG market. Unfortunately, this was not the case, as downward pressure on rates and TCE earnings were observed across all key routes.

BLPG1 Ras Tanura to Chiba experienced a rate decrease of $4.33, closing at $48.00, while associated TCE earnings fell by $3,952, closing at $28,265.

In the Atlantic, BLPG2 and BLPG3 were similarly impacted. BLPG2 Houston–Flushing saw a drop of $4.25, closing at $48.25, with daily TCE earnings falling by $5,702 to $42,488. Meanwhile, BLPG3 Houston–Chiba saw a similar drop of $5.83, with the final published rate settling at $91.50 and TCE earnings at $26,744.

While this drop reflects the current lack of market sentiment, it will be interesting to see if this represents the floor, or if further downward pressure will persist.