One of TMS Cardiff Gas’ LNG carriers is being put up for sale in what is being seen as a fresh test of market values on four sisterships.
Industry sources said the shipowner's 160,000-cbm Corcovado LNG (built 2014) has been quietly offered to select buyers.
The tri-fuel diesel-electric (TFDE) LNG carrier is one of TMS Cardiff Gas’ first four newbuildings that are currently being traded in the spot market.
Brokers valued the ship in the region of $80m. Several commented that there is now a yawning gap between sellers’ expectations and ship values. One detailed that previously a price closer to $120m had been asked on the vessel and its sisters.
TFDE vessels are slightly smaller and regarded as less efficient than their larger two-stroke, gas-injection ME-GI or X-DF cousins, which tend to have capacity of around 174,000 cbm and offer lower cargo boil-off rates.
But sales of modern LNG carriers are rare and any that go through would likely set a new benchmark price for both these type of vessels and first-generation steam-turbine ships.
TMS Cardiff Gas' membrane-type LNG carrier quartet — which includes the Kita LNG, Palu LNG and Yari LNG (all built 2014) — were first offered up for sale last year.
The DSME-built ships are owned by joint venture Oceanus LNG, in which TMS Cardiff Gas chief executive Christos Economou’s family has equity interest.
The majority shareholder in Oceanus is US private equity firm MatlinPatterson.
Firm selling out
TradeWinds understands that a fund originally set up to finance the ships has matured, prompting alternative asset manager MatlinPatterson to try to sell its stake in the four ships.
The vessels were first formally circulated for sale in the later part of 2019 in what was then a strong charter market for LNG carriers.
But rates have since crashed back, partly on the back of an oversupplied LNG market but also on demand drops in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.
The four were earlier talked of as potential sales candidates and last year were being lined up to join a new LNG carrier pool that was being planned between TMS Cardiff Gas, Golar LNG and Awilco. But these plans later collapsed.
TMS Cardiff Gas has since moved on and started taking delivery of 11 speculatively-ordered newbuildings, which have all been fixed on mid-term to long-term contracts.
The company took delivery of the first of these so-called X-carrier series vessels — the 174,000-cbm newbuilding La Seine — in February. The ship has started a charter with French energy major Total. The sisterships Amberjack LNG and Bonito LNG were delivered in May.
TMS Cardiff Gas made its break into LNG by buying a secondhand vessel, the 147,895-cbm Fuji LNG (built 2004), which is due to come off term charter-hire this year.
The company now boasts a fleet of 16 owned and managed LNG carriers.
Last year, at the conclusion of the charter deal on its 11th vessel in its X-Carrier series, the company said it is looking to expand its vessel portfolio in the 2022-2023 time frame.
