Exmar ended the first quarter in the red thanks to dips in its LNG business and slightly lower LPG carrier rates.
The Belgian gas player reported an $11.4m loss for the first three months of 2019, a considerable decline from the $21.4m profit made over the same period last year.
In LNG, the Ebit earned by the segment dropped from $29.6m last year to a $3m loss.
For LPG carriers, the segment earned $2.8m Ebit, down from $3m. The company's 20 midsize ships earned just over $18,000 per day TCEs, down from nearly $19,200 for the first quarter of 2018. VLGCs, of which Exmar owns eight, fetched just $13,920, down from $15,740.
"The freight market for Very Large Gas Carriers (“VLGC”) was weak in the beginning of the year. From March onwards, the freight market started to improve. At the beginning of April 2019, the spot market was fixing VLGCs at around USD 1.2 million/month," the company said.
"The Midsize (“MGC”) market was able to keep freight levels at around USD 540,000 /month during the first quarter 2019. With a charter coverage of above 79% for 2019, the forward fixing strategy of EXMAR is paying off as those fixtures were all done above current market terms. EXMAR’s Midsize fleet and diverse client portfolio remains wellplaced to take advantage of a further strengthening of market conditions."
Exmar's 10 ship pressurized fleet earned slighlty better TCEs $7,650 or $9,130, depending on size, both increases year-over-year.
