BW LPG has revealed a $4m profit from offloading a 30-year-old VLGC.
The Oslo-listed Singapore company confirmed it has sold the 78,000-cbm Berge Summit (built 1990) to an unnamed buyer.
TradeWinds reported the deal earlier this month, with brokers putting the price at a stronger-than-expected $11m.BW LPG said the ship will continue trading and the sale will add $9m in liquidity in addition to the $4m gain on its net book value.
The Berge Summit had been used to store LPG for a gas-to-power project on a five-year deal with Vitol at $25,000 per day. It is due for its special survey.
Sold into falling market
TradeWinds' sources linked the deal to a subsidiary of PetroVietnam. The sale is thought to have been agreed at the end of 2019, when the charter ended.
VLGC spot rates were riding high until April, when they dropped from $60,000 per day to below $20,000 per day in June.
BW LPG bought the ship from Japanese interests for $8m in April 2015, when it was called Sunny Hope.
VesselsValue estimates it to be worth $9.64m now.
Shipbrokers said the market for older VLGC vessels is very illiquid and ships are difficult to value.
Chief executive Anders Onarheim said BW LPG now owns and operates 46 modern VLGCs, with an average age of 8.7 years.
Twelve ships are scheduled for LPG dual-fuel engine retrofitting in 2020 and 2021, "making them the most environmentally friendly VLGCs in the world".
