‘COSCO Shipping Panama’ was the first merchant ship (Cargo ship) to transit the expanded Panama Canal and the first LPG Tanker to transit was NYK Lycaste Peace which belongs to NYK.
Here is one more news where BP’s ‘British Merchant’ will be the first LNG tanker, which is 135,500-cbm capacity, to transit the expanded Panama Canal late July.
The vessel is scheduled to transit the new locks on July 26, carrying a cargo from Trinidad and Tobago to Chile. Note that this is a voyage from the US east coast or gulf to the west coast of South America. Does this signify a shift in LNG trade?
Earlier, MFAME published that there is no significant global oil trade pattern shift which is supposed to be brought in by the new expanded canal. We are awaiting to hear from the energy and trade experts to comment on this.
Significance:
- This opens up a new trade route for the heating and power-plant fuel as supplies surge.
- The shorter trade route between the Atlantic and Pacific will help cut costs.
- This exhibits that canal can handle this kind of massive tankers that transport LNG for the first time.
- The U.S. became an exporter of LNG produced from shale gas in February with the start of Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana, and this may be a positive news.
- The Panama Canal Authority estimate about 300 ships a year carrying nearly 20 million tons of LNG may pass through the canal annually.
“It’s what a lot of folks have been anticipating for a long time,” said Rusty Braziel, president of RBN Energy LLC in Houston. Given current oil prices and economic conditions, shipments through the canal may be limited to volumes contracted to go to Japan and other Asia-Pacific buyers. The longer-term prospects are more promising, he said.
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Source: Bloomberg
