NWE/MED
The coaster market in North-West Europe remains busy with smaller- and larger enquiries out from Scandinavia and UKC. We continue to see increasing demand for butane into Morocco/GIB area, especially for the larger coasters, as well as iso-butane ex Scandinavia has kept its strong momentum throughout the week. Prior weekend there are only a few prompt open vessels within ARA range but vessels last cargo rules out some of the competition we have seen in favor to other Owners. Some Owners experience delays due to production/storage complications, whilst other Owners have decided to use prompt vessels for COA program instead of waiting for possible spot opportunities as we are moving closer to weekend. Rates are steadily increasing to around USD 42-43 pmt Tees/ARA and is expected to remain so during next week. Prior weekend there are still Owners awaiting declaration of discharge ports which keeps their upcoming scheduling a bit “up in the air”.
SEA/FEAST
The pressurized market in the East has grown tighter this week. In the LPG sector, with October CP price announced we expect increasing discussion for LPG next week. In Southeast Asia, LPG traders’ TC vessels have also found increasing employment amid continued LPG Expansion in Bangladesh, including new terminals. In the shipping market, due to active time charter activities, spot availability has decreased further with limited ships left available until end October. MOC ships have been fully employed for October with the coming-back of Formosa from turnaround. We expect the shipping market to remain tight next week but decreasing levels of discussion as China and Korea are off for long holidays.
Time Charter Fixtures
Sabarimala Gas(1994-34,754cbm)/IOC/12m/ Del-redel AG-India 28 Sept/usd 13,775 pd
Tilos (2009-35,000)/BPCL/12+6+6m/ Del-redel AG-India 22 Sept/ usd 14,750 pd
Sale and Purchase/New Buildings
No Sale and Purchase news to report.
Shanghai based Pacific Gas have purchased five ethylene capable resales, comprising of two 17,000 cbm’s and three 22,000 cbm’s. These vessels were part of a larger order at Sinopacific Offshore Engineering (SOE) which was originally placed by Odfjell and Eletson. When the Yard filed for bankruptcy in August 2016, the original Buyers were able to cancel the orders. The first 17k cbm hull was launched over a year ago whilst blocks amounting to approximately half of a second ship are understood to have already been constructed. The Yard has since been bought by state-owned CIMC Enric and resumed operations in August 2017. The five vessels are due to be delivered from Q1 2018 onwards, starting with the 17k cbms.
Scrapping
The 78,000 cbm SUNO (built 1991,16,497 ldt, ex-SUN ARIES) was beached in Chittagong on 19th September. She remains the only VLGC to have been sold for recycling so far this year.
Disclaimer: This market report is prepared in good faith, however a significant part of it is based on estimates and market rumors and therefore nothing stated in the report should be taken as a confirmed fact.
StealthGas Inc. denies the responsibility for any errors and/or omissions of whatsoever nature found in the market reports posted on this website.
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Source: StealthGas Inc
