LNG

摘要

February saw a chill wind throughout the world and surprisingly with Chinese New Year in full force, a number of fixtures were concluded as prices still remained attractive. However, the number of fixtures seen was certainly lower and moving forward, the signs were there for freight rates to continue to soften and the concern was that the second quarter could see these levels coming down further. ENARSA opened their tender for 10 cargoes although many of these are believed to have been awarded to portfolio players with their own dedicated tonnage, thus putting further pressure on those vessels with spot availability. TFDE charter rates, which started the month around $70,000/day fell to low $60,000s per day, although the round trip for owners remained. This softening is anticipated to continue for the next couple of months and with the events in Papua New Guinea, the addition to the number of available vessels in the market in the Far East will not assist in keeping rates up. With the continued shortage of vessels in the Atlantic, rates are slightly higher but these too are affected and for shipowners the coming months do not look that positive.