New York-listed Teekay LNG Partners has revealed new charters to keep three vessels busy for another five years.
The company said a fixed-rate extension of three years has been agreed for the 87,305-cbm LNG carrier Polar Spirit (built 1993).
This will be at a higher rate than its previous deal.
In addition, one-year contracts were signed for the 165,500-cbm Arwa Spirit and Marib Spirit (both built 2008).
The carriers are jointly owned by the Teekay LNG-Marubeni venture.
CEO Mark Kremin said: “Despite the near-term weakness in the spot LNG carrier market since the start of the year, we have recently been able to take advantage of the improving medium-term fundamentals by securing multiple attractive charters on our LNG carriers for periods ranging from one to three years.
"This has allowed us to lock-in charters at attractive rates and maximise utilisation, thereby further enhancing our earnings stability and improving our cash flows.”
Out of the red
First quarter net profit was $21.61m, up from a loss of $6.89m in 2018.
Voyage revenue was $149.74m versus $115.3m.
Earnings were boosted by the 10 LNG carrier newbuildings delivered between February 2018 and January 2019.
There were also higher earnings from the partnership’s seven multi-gas carriers.
Profit was offset partially by lower earnings from the conventional tanker fleet, from which four vessels were sold over the last year.
Kremin added: "Looking ahead, we expect contract start-up of four additional LNG carrier newbuildings and the Bahrain LNG terminal in the second half of 2019, which we anticipate will continue to drive further growth in total adjusted EBITDA throughout the rest of 2019 and into 2020.”
