- The global LNGC fleet grew by 4 vessels to 432 whilst the order book shrunk from 133 to 129 vessels due to the continuous lack of new orders
- Despite a short burst of activity in September, the charter market remains oversupplied, with fleet utilisation below 90%
- Two mid-term charters for above $70,000/day from 2018 with Total and BG as well as an uptick in trading lifted the monthly average spot charter rate to $28,550/day, well within our 12-month target range of $25-35,000/day
- Steam-powered LNGCs struggle to improve their charter rate prospects in light of oversupply of newer DFDE/TFDE competitors
- Far Eastern LNG market is saturated with Japan and South Korea returning to nuclear but spot trading opportunities can emerge due to nuclear outages
- Emerging buyers such as India and China demonstrate significant potential but are also particularly price conscious
- China’s long-term energy objectives cannot easily be assessed through import capacity expansions alone – national geostrategy, energy supply diversification and local government objectives are at least as significant
by Alexander Wilk // 30 October, 2016
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