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12^st  October 2020

NWE/MED

It has been a fairly busy week with charterers fixing away some of the prompt coasters in North West Europe. Prior weekend there are still vessels on subs, but the general activity has not been strong enough to create any impact on the rates. We still experience relatively strong competition between owners, as well as some relets are aggressive in terms of securing spot voyages to fill their own gaps. Most of the cargoes we have seen has been on a prompt basis however, there are a couple of traders looking into shipments up to ten days in advance which will keep rates balanced going forward as well. The larger coasters continue being busy and fewer prompt positions around GIB areas. ENI requoted their tender for a time charter for about 3200 cbm (minimum 3000 cbm) pressurized/semiref vessel to trade NWE/MED 4 months plus options. This is not to be mistaken as an additional to the tender from three weeks back, which was eventually withdrawn.

SEA/FEAST

There remain limited activities in the East pressurized market this week as the regional holiday continues. In terms of C4 Raffinate, there is still limited interest from buyers in China. This is in line with postponements of most Southeast Asia exports in October. A combined C4R1 and C4R2 tender was closed this week from RAPID plant in Pengerang. A Singapore trader was awarded the cargo and it will find home in China. During this week, PTT closed a butadiene tender this week and it was reportedly awarded to a Korean trader. There limited LPG spot cargoes this week, and a lack of activities has caused reduced employment of pressurized fleet. Going into next week, we expect to see prompt vessels in Far East Asia to build up.

Time Charter Fixtures

Vessel                Built  CBM     Charterer Period     Delivery Laycan                  Hire

Pacific Jupiter 2018 17000  Repsol       Short TC Med         25-30 OCT           HNR

BW Trader       2006 78631  IOC            12+6+6    AG           15 OCT-15 NOV HNR

Sale and Purchase/New Buildings

New Buildings

Nanjing Tanker Corp (NJTC) have ordered a single 5,500 cbm fully pressurized vessel at CMJL Yangzhou Shipyard (ex AVIC Dingheng). She is understood to be designed as a purely coastal vessel with all Chinese Makers, hence an RMB price which is equivalent to region of US$ 14 mill. The vessel is expected to deliver in 2022, whereupon she will be employed with Nanjing Tanker’s subsidiary, Shenzhen LPG Shipping, who operate 7 LPG vessels which are all 3,700 cbm or smaller.

West Africa LPG, a JV between Nigerian National Petroleum Co (NNPC) and Ocean Bed Trading Ltd, have returned to Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) by ordering a pair of 23,000 cbm fully-ref’s. The vessels are designed to burn compliant fuel and are expected to be delivered within Q3 2022. The Yard has announced that the order amounts to KRW 89 bill, which at current exchange rate equates to approx. US$ 76.8m en bloc or US$ 38.4m per vessel. We understand that these vessels are based off the standard HMD design rather than the more sophisticated, and much more costly, NLNG spec. West Africa LPG own two existing 38,000 cbm’s, named AFRICA GAS and SAHARA GAS, which were delivered from HMD in 2017.

Second Hand

No news to report

Scrapping

No news to report.

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