Navigator Gas held earnings from its ships on a steady course during the third quarter even as Hurricane Beryl delivered a blow to ethylene exports from the US Gulf Coast.
As the New York-listed gas carrier owner and operator reported an earnings dip, it said its average time-charter equivalent rate stood at just under $29,100 per day.
That is slightly lower than the $29,600 per day earned in the second quarter and a sizeable improvement on the $26,300 per day that its ships reeled in during the third quarter last year.
The destructive Beryl, which was the earliest-forming Category 5 storm on record, slammed into Texas on 8 July, hitting the region’s ethylene crackers.
Navigator said: “During the three months ended September 30, 2024, the arbitrage between the price of ethylene in the US compared to the price of ethylene in the rest of the world was temporarily impacted as a consequence of adverse weather in the Houston area from Hurricane Beryl, causing production to be shut down on a precautionary basis.
“This resulted in lower demand for ethylene shipments from the US.”
London-headquartered Navigator said the temporary ethylene demand slump during the period was partly offset by the ability to switch to ethane cargoes, a market where shipments increased.
The company, formally known as Navigator Holdings, reported $18.2m in net income attributable to shareholders, a decline from $19.1m a year earlier.
Navigator’s adjusted profit was $20.1m, down from $20.9m a year earlier.
That translated into $0.29 in adjusted earnings per share, slightly below the average analyst bet of $0.32, according to Yahoo Finance.
Navigator said its fleet utilisation rate dipped to 90.9% in the latest reporting period, down from 93.4% in the previous quarter and the third quarter of 2023.
It delivered $142m in revenue, up year on year from $138m.
The quarterly results brought bottom-line net income for the first nine months to $64m, down from $64.5m in the same period of 2023. But adjusted net income improved to $70.3m from $61.9m.
The company had 31 ships on time charter, 16 in the spot market or working contracts of affreightment and it had nine vessels in the Unigas Pool.
It has 41% of its vessel days covered for the year that began on 1 October.
Ethylene demand has returned, Navigator said.
“Ethylene exports are expected to increase during the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to the third quarter of 2024 due to improvements in trading conditions and the price arbitrage between the price of ethylene in the US compared to the price of ethylene in the rest of the world, all primarily driven by low US gas prices,” it said.
