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 during the period, 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 prior quarter and a sizeable improvement on the $26,300 per day that its ships reeled in during the third quarter of 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.
“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,” the shipowner said.
“This resulted in lower demand for ethylene shipments from the US.”
Navigator said the temporary ethylene demand slump during the period was partially 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.
The London headquartered company saw $20.1m in adjusted profit, down from $20.9m in the third quarter of 2023.
That translated into $0.29 in adjusted earnings per share, which is slightly below than 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 both the second quarter of this year and the third quarter of 2023.
The company delivered $142m in revenue during the period, up from $138m in the third quarter of 2023.
The quarterly results brought bottom-line net income for the first nine months of the year 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 started 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,” the company said.
