Capital Gas fleet takes delivery of newbuild LNG carrier immediately chartered to London trading firm
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.
Global LNG fleet expands at faster pace as Qatar orders more newbuilds from South Korean shipyard
The global LNG fleet is heading for the 800 vessels mark from the current 700 ships with South Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) being the latest to receive a $850 million order for four newbuilds from Qatar.
The orders are increasing to keep pace with LNG and demand liquefaction plant expansion by nations such as Qatar and the US.
DSME, the world's No. 4 shipbuilder by order backlog, said it would build the vessels with 174,000 cubic metres of capacity at the Okpo shipyard on the south coast and deliver them by the first half of 2025.
The order is the first result of a $19 billion contract that DSME and two other Korean shipbuilders, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries, have signed with QatarEnergy to construct scores of LNG vessels through 2027.
The contract is in line with Qatar's plan to boost its LNG production capacity to 126 million tonnes per annum by 2027 from the current 77 million tons.
Analysts said that DSME's order is widely expected to lead to the securing of more orders for LNG carriers by the three major Korean shipbuilders.
DSME won $4 billion in orders in the first quarter of 2022, including eight LNG carriers, six containerships, one offshore platform and one depot maintenance order.
The six containerships ordered had a specification for dual-fuel capability.
Among the LNG shipping companies ordering the newbuilds in the first quarter was GasLog Ltd, the Greek LNG shipping firm.
GasLog is currently expanding its fleet ordered four newbuild 174,000 cubic metres capacity vessels for delivery in 2024 and 2025.
The yard added that the GasLog ships would also be equipped with the latest generation M-type Electronically Controlled, Gas Injection (ME-GI) propulsion system.
They would also fitting a more advanced re-liquefaction system.
Last year 68 LNG newbuilds were delivered compared with 47 LNG ships in 2020.
The global LNG fleet consisted of 700 vessels at the start of 2022 and is now headed for 800 in the next two or three years.
The current total includes 48 floating storage and regasification units that can act as import terminals. Total cargo capacity in 2022 was more than 105 million cubic metres.
The average spot charter rate for a 160,000 cubic metres LNG carrier stood at around $89,200 per day last year compared with $59,300 per day in the previous year.
