Cido Shipping has landed more period cover for its large LPG carriers.
The Hong Kong-headquartered shipowner has chartered its 82,000-cbm Yamabuki (built 2010) to Indonesian energy company Pertamina for about $930,000 per month, or $31,100 per day, European shipbrokers said.
The one-year deal marks the second period charter that Cido has signed for a VLGC so far this year.
Cido and Pertamina did not reply to TradeWinds' requests for comment.
In January, Cido fixed out the sistership Kobai (built 2009) for 15 months in a charter to Hindustan Petroleum Corp at $45,000 per day. Both ships were built at South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries.
Spot rates have been in free fall for VLGCs this year, coming in at just slightly higher than $10,000 per day on Friday. That compares to more than $100,000 per day in early January, when time charter equivalent rates for voyages both to the west and east were quoted at $3m per month — levels that had not been seen not since August 2015.
Oslo shipbroker Fearnleys said that in Western markets, VLGC spot earnings have sunk near operating expenses.
“Even at these earnings, there are arguably not enough cargoes to be lifted out of the US in March to employ all the ships coming open," the outfit said.
Cido has three HHI-built VLGCs in its fleet that were built in 2009 and 2010.
TradeWinds reported on 25 February that Cido was exiting the kamsarmax bulker segment.
