Spot rates for very large gas carriers have awoken from their summer slumber as a surge in Atlantic market chartering activity fuelled a rebound.
Baltic LPG Index ended on Friday at 4,489, which marked a 35.6% bounce from the end of the prior week.
The index, based on three benchmark VLGC trade lanes, implied an average day rate of nearly $44,900 per day.
The jump was fuelled by a surge on Thursday, just a week after the spot market indicator hit its lowest level since February at 3,087 points.
In what is often a seasonally slow period for energy shipping, the VLGC market received a welcome injection of deal volume, particularly in US Gulf Coast trades.
“The Atlantic market stole the show this week, seeing a flurry of activity in the form of well over a dozen fixtures reported in the market in a short time frame,” the Baltic Exchange said in its weekly report.
The Baltic LPG3 route from Houston to Japan surged to nearly $110 per tonne on Friday, or about $41,800 per day, up from $90.17 a week earlier.
The shorter route to the Dutch port of Flushing surged to $61.25 on Thursday, implying earnings of $60,600 per day, after closing last week at just $50 per tonne. It slipped back to $60 per tonne on Friday.
On the Middle East-to-China trade lane, dubbed the LPG1, spot rates rose to $55.50 per tonne on Friday, a surge from $41.83 a week earlier.
The spot rate rises lifted the futures curve, particularly in the Atlantic.
December freight forward agreement contracts for VLGCs on the LPG3 route were priced at nearly $125 per tonne on Friday.
A week earlier, contracts for December — which is when the futures curve peaks — were worth $115 per tonne.
