Trader Trafigura is poised to control a fleet of six LPG-fuelled VLGCs after striking deals to fix newbuildings from two shipowners in Asia.
Shipping sources said Trafigura has entered charter agreements with Singapore’s Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) and South Korea’s SK Shipping for two dual-fuel, 86,000-cbm VLGC newbuildings from each company.
Details of the charters were not disclosed, but Trafigura is said to have fixed the VLGCs, which will be able to run on both LPG and conventional fuels, for five to seven years.
The sources added that Eastern Pacific and SK Shipping were the companies behind orders for four VLGCs that Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE) announced on 29 April, without revealing its counterparties at the time.
The South Korean shipbuilding group said its subsidiary — Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries — was tapped to build four VLGC newbuildings worth KRW 365bn ($329m), which works out to $82.25m per ship.
Officials at Eastern Pacific and SK Shipping, as well as a spokesperson for Trafigura, declined to comment for this story.
Eastern Pacific's order for two LPG carriers at Hyundai Samho marks the company's entry into the VLGC segment.
The Idan-Ofer controlled shipowner owns a diversified fleet of 122 vessels focused primarily on three core segments: bulkers, containerships and tankers. Its fleet also includes seven midsize gas carriers of around 28,000 cbm and three 60,000-cbm LPG carriers.
For its part, SK Shipping has not ordered any VLGCs for the last six years. It currently owns seven, of which one is co-owned with Japan’s Eneos Ocean.
First foreign time charter
“SK Shipping’s six VLGCs are long-term chartered out to SK Gas,” a shipping source said. “This is the first time that it is chartering out VLGCs to a foreign company.”
Trafigura also has two 90,000-cbm, LPG-fuelled VLGCs under construction at Hyundai Samho for its own account. The international trading house ordered the duo two years ago at a reported price of $81.5m each.
The company is slated to take delivery of them in July and November. Trafigura will name the gas carriers the Bellavista Explorer and Monte Rosa Explorer.
There have been a rash of VLGC newbuilding orders in the first few months of this year.
Shipbroker Clarksons lists 27 orders for VLGCs that have been booked since the start of this year. The current VLGC orderbook stands at just over 20% of the fleet.
In the midsize gas segment, Trafigura has four 40,000-cbm LPG newbuildings booked at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, another KSOE yard.
