A slew of geopolitical issues kept Navigator Holdings in the red for the first three months of 2019.
The David Butters-led gas carrier owner reported $3.3m loss for the first quarter after the close Monday, missing Wall Street expectations by $0.10 per share and down from the nearly $700,000 made for the same period last year.
The company said US sanctions against Venezuela levied in January took the company's two PDVSA-chartered handysize carriers into the spot market. Further, oversupply of VLGCs pushed some of those ships into competition with mid-sized gas carriers and ethylene supply slowed thanks to a fire at the Versalis steam cracker in Italy.
Navigator did report opportunity for "triangulation ... across the petrochemical streams" across the Atlantic, thanks to US propylene exports growth and movement of other chemicals from Europe to the US.
