Shipowner BW LNG has tied up its second speculatively-ordered LNG carrier newbuilding on a long-term charter with China's ENN Energy.

Brokers report that one of the two 2022-delivering newbuildings that the company has on order has been fixed ex-yard.

Reports on the term period on the business vary, but the vessel is thought to have been fixed for at least eight years, with options to extend the hire period.

A rate has yet to emerge on the business.

Cinnamon girl

BW LNG has two LNG carriers on order at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, which are listed on databases as due for delivery dates in June and September 2022.

The vessels are to be named the BW Iris and BW Cassia — the latter a reference to Chinese cinnamon.

BW LNG declined to comment.

In October, US producer Cheniere Energy signed a deal with ENN to supply the Chinese gas buyer with 0.9 million tonnes per annum of LNG on a free-on-board basis from July 2022 over a 13-year period.

This month, TradeWinds reported that BW LNG had fixed one of these two vessels to BP for three years plus optional periods at a rate in the mid-$80,000-per-day range.

Getting breezy

Brokers said term business has been very active this quarter with new enquiries emerging for 2022 and some charterers firming up options they were holding on vessels fixed on one-year deals earlier in 2021.

Fearnley LNG has one-year charter rates of modern two-stroke tonnage at $125,000 per day, pegging these for tri-fuel diesel-electric ships at $102,000 per day.

But spot charter rates are also shifting upwards at a seemingly unstoppable pace.

Time-charter equivalent rates for two-stroke vessels are being reported as firmly in the $300,000-per-day range with a figure starting with a "4" being quoted for the Australia-Japan route.

Howe Robinson Partners said in its weekly report: "With fixtures above $200,000 per day and deep winter yet to bite, we may have some time to wait until we see the market peak."

Brokers report a wave of new enquiry for vessels as charterers seek spot cover for the winter in a rapidly tightening market where relets are being pulled back.

"If last week appeared to be the calm before the storm, this week we may have just started to feel the breeze picking up," Fearnley LNG said.

"Charterers may have few other options than to pay up, and more often than not, also absorb hefty idle time costs in order to secure a vessel."