11/04/2012 - LNG SHIPS IN BIG DEMAND - FOR NOW

摘要

There is a bubble in global shipbuilding - and not only is it growing every day, it is keeping the entire industry afloat. The bubble is demand for the ships that carry the world's fastest growing energy source, liquefied natural gas, or LNG. However, when the bubble bursts - and many analysts believe they already know the date, some three years hence - there will be many expensive ships lying idle. It is, they say, like watching an accident in slow motion. Today, global demand for LNG is rocketing, assisted largely by the flight from nuclear power after reactor meltdowns at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant a year ago. And the demand for LNG ships to deliver this specialist hydrocarbon energy source is tied to the rocket's tail.