LNG

Capital Product Partners LP (CPLP), the growing liquefied natural gas and energy shipping assets owner, has taken delivery of the newbuild LNG carrier, “Asterix I” and chartered it to a UK-based company.

CPLP said that the vessel has started seven years of employment with Hartree Partners Power & Gas Company (UK) Limited, who maintain an option to extend by an additional two years.

Hartree Partners is a London-based energy supplier and is also involved in trading and marketing volumes to the National Grid.

The owner of “Astrix 1” is a Greek company listed on the Nasdaq global exchange as well as being a master limited partnership in the Marshall Islands.

The LNG vessels sail under the Capital Gas banner and the experienced CPLP executive leadership comprises Chief Executive Gerasimos (Jerry) Kalogiratos, Chief Financial Officer Nikolaos Kalapotharakos and Chief Commercial Officer Spyridon Leousis.

The “Asterix I” vessel is the seventh latest-generation of LNG carriers for CPLP and has 174,000 cubic metres capacity.

Fleet

CPLP currently owns 22 vessels, including the seven LNG carriers as well as 11 Neo-Panamax container vessels, three Panamax container vessels and one Capesize bulk carrier.

This excludes one 13,312 TEU container vessel that CPLP has agreed to acquire and is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2023

CPLP signed an agreement in June 2022 to acquire one 174,000 cubic metres capacity latest-generation X-DF LNG carrier and three 13,312 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) containerships with hybrid scrubber-fitted Tier III and Phase III as well as being dual fuel-ready.

CPLP in its most recent earnings posted on February 3, 2023, reported full year net profits of $21.1 million, an increase of 13 percent on the $18.6M of net earnings from 2021.

The company's annual revenues came to $79.9M versus $63.6M in the previous year.

The increase in revenue was primarily attributable to the contributions of the four LNG carriers acquired during the fourth quarter of 2021 and operating for the full period and an increase in the daily rate earned by the LNG vessels “Aristarchos” and “Asklipios” from September 2022.

Owners of large and small LNG carrier fleets are maintaining robust order books with the latest ship to be delivered being for shipowner Minerva Gas along with four other vessels for various owners that emerged from the shipyards in June.

Greek shipping line Minerva has just taken delivery of the 173,400 cubic metres capacity carrier, the “Minerva Limnos”, from South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering.

The vessel left DSME's Geoje shipyard on June 30. The “Minerva Limnos” features M-type electronically controlled, Gas injection (ME-GI) propulsion, a No. 96 GW LNG containment system from GTT and a PRS-FRS re-liquefaction system.

The vessel is flying the Malta flag and is classed by European classification society DNV.

“We wish to convey to the Master, Chief Engineer and all Officers and ratings of ‘Minerva Limnos’ our warmest congratulations and wholehearted wishes for safe, smooth and prosperous voyages and calm seas,” said a statement from Athens-based Minerva.

Off Japan

The new Minerva carrier was shown in latest shipping data as being just off the coast of Japan and was expected to head for the Panama Canal before lifting its maiden cargo in the Atlantic Basin.

The vessel delivery brings Minerva's LNG fleet numbers to three carriers, following deliveries of two vessels in January and February 2021.

The shipowner has ordered two further carriers, both of 174,000 cubic metres capacity, the “Minerva Chios” to be delivered in the weeks ahead and its sister ship, the “Minerva Amorgos” to be handed over by August 2022.

The four other LNG carriers delivered from shipyards in June were for Danish owner Celsius Shipping and Greek owners Alpha Gas, Gaslog and Capital Gas.

The expectations of growing shipping demand in the LNG market is supported by the lengthening of shipping routes on the
ramp-up of export capacity from the United States and Russia.

The bulk of additional sanctioned liquefaction capacity entering the market will be in the 2021-2024 period.

At the end of 2020 as many as 150 LNG vessels were on order, which represents a quarter of the active carrier fleet, excluding floating storage and regasification units.

Of these, nearly 60 ships are scheduled for delivery in 2021, adding close to 10 million cubic metres of capacity, an 11 percent year-on-year increase.

The market entry of the remaining 15 million cubic metres of capacity on order is spread across the period between 2022 and 2025.

June 16 (LNGJ) - Capital Gas Ship Management Corp. has taken delivery of a new LNG carrier, the “Aristarchos”, built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea. “With cargo capacity of 174,000 cubic metres, the vessel is highly efficient, propelled with XDF engines and equipped with the latest available technologies, including an air lubrication system and increased filling limits of more than 99 percent,” said Capital Gas.

   “It is the third of seven sister ships to be delivered between 2020-2023. The vessel has been chartered to Cheniere for a period up to six years,” said the Piraeus, Greece-based company. Capital Gas is a ship management service provide and currently manages a fleet of seven modern LNG carriers, four under construction and three trading.