Is the winter market ever going to come for LNG carriers?
Fearnleys and MB Shipbrokers seemed downbeat about the seasonally stronger period as rates for the vessels dipped this week.
“The short and medium-term sentiment remains muted, with ship owners now contemplating whether we will get any semblance of the usual winter market” in the fourth quarter and the first quarter of 2025, Fearnleys said.
MB Shipbrokers said: “So far there has been no sign of a winter market despite a slight pick up in spot market activity.”
The Danish broker assessed steam turbine vessels at $26,000 per day this week, down $3,000 week-over-week with dual- and tri-fuel diesel-electric vessels seeing rates falling the same amount over the same period to $44,000 per day.
LNG carriers with two-stroke engines saw earnings slip $4,000 to $55,000 per day, it said.
Both MB and Fearnleys noted an uptick of activity in the Atlantic, albeit muted.
Fearnleys said there were at least seven firm requirements amid a litany of available vessels for October and November dates, while MB noted a single prompt cargo out of the US Gulf on a cross-Caribbean voyage.
“Activity has also picked up in the Pacific, with charterers preferring DFDE and Steam Turbine vessels as the two strokes prepare to ballast back to the Atlantic for winter,” Fearnleys said.
It said spot rates for two stroke vessels were down 13% to $52,500 per day, with one-year time charters at $70,000 per day.
By MB’s estimation, the available cargoes in the Middle East are for intra-regional voyages loading in early November.
“Additional firm requirements have been seen from Australia and a couple of TFDEs are on subjects in address of these,” it said.
