New York-listed Navigator Holdings has claimed a new cargo record as it returned to profit in the second quarter.
The LPG vessel company said its 37,500-cbm Navigator Eclipse (built 2016) successfully completed a loading of 20,000 tonnes of ethylene from its new joint venture terminal at Morgan's Point in Texas in June.
This was the largest ethylene parcel ever carried on a gas carrier, it added.
Navigator logged a $0.2m loss on the 50/50 venture in the second quarter.
"However, with the commencement of the long term take or pay contracts as of the beginning of June, the terminal generated a profit for the month, although not sufficient to overcome the losses of the prior two months," the shipowner said.
"It is anticipated that the terminal will remain profitable for the remainder of the year."
Back in black
The owner's net profit to 30 June was $3.49m, against a loss of $7.7m a year ago.
Revenue rose to $80m from $73.5m, with the six-month loss cut to $4.24m from $11m.
Fleet utilisation improved to 88.3% for the three months, compared to 85.2% in 2019.
This month Navigator has amended its terminal loan facility to enable the immediate drawdown of $34m.
In addition, the company is seeking to refinance one of its vessel loans to unlock an additional $30m for general corporate purposes.
This refinancing is expected to be completed during the third quarter.
Navigator continues to assess the capital markets for refinancing its existing $100m senior unsecured bond that matures in February 2021.
It has engaged financial advisors to "investigate opportunities", it said.
Clarksons Platou Securities said: "With several sources of liquidity at their disposal, we see limited refinancing risk of the NVGS 2021 bonds and believe they trade at a compelling value close to par, yielding circa 8.2%.
"We believe the MGC fully-ref Navigator Jorf is a good candidate for a potential refinancing. The vessel has the longest contract coverage in the NVGS fleet, running through August 2027, and is part of a credit facility with a relatively low bullet LTV ratio of 43% according to our estimates."
New charters
Navigator also signed a new three-year charter for a midsize ethane/ethylene carrier, with another midsize vessel extended until the end of 2021.
Both charters are for the transportation of ethane and both are at charter rates of well in excess of $30,000 per day.
Despite big falls in rates for VLGCs, handysize vessels declined only 5% from $650,000 per month to $620,000 over the period, showing their "resilience to volatility and maintaining a stable profile due to the vessels’ flexibility in trading in LPG, petrochemicals and ammonia markets," it said.
"In summary, the quarter started slow due to the negative impacts of Covid-19 on the world economy but it gradually recovered as various government restrictions were eased and consumption improved, bringing monthly utilisation levels from mid 80% at the end of the first quarter to approximately 90% from May 2020 onwards, in part due to the increased activity through the Marine Export Terminal," it added.
Crew changes continued to be a challenge, consistent with most shipowners, although an increasing number of crew changes occurred during the quarter, with 380 crew relieved.
This still left more than 130 with overdue leave, the company said.
