LNG

The early 2023 LNG shipping market has opened with a “trembling uncertainty” in the LNG freight market with charter rates in the first few weeks alone falling 30 percent in the Atlantic Basin and 16 percent in the Far East,

May 20 (LNGJ) - Shipping charter rates for LNG carriers in the spot market declined in the past week by around $12,000 per day in both the West of Suez market and East of Suez. Fixtures in the Atlantic and Pacific basins were quoted at between $69,000 per day and $65,000 per day for vessels of 155,000-165,000 cubic metres capacity. One-year charter rates for the most modern vessels were unchanged at around $77,000 per day.

April 15 (LNGJ) - Shipping charter rates for LNG carriers in the spot market increased for West Of Suez by around $13,500 per day to average between $55,000 per day and $51,000 per day for vessels of 155,000-165,000 cubic metres capacity. In the East of Suez charter market average rates rose by around $4,000 per day to between $43,000 per day and $39,000 per day, according to various brokers. One-year charter rates for the most modern vessels also increased to around $61,000 per day.

Dec 24 (LNGJ) - Shipping charter rates for LNG carriers in the spot market have edged higher as Northern Hemisphere winter market demand increased. Rates were quoted at an average of between $158,000 per day and $162,0000 per day West of Suez. Spot rates of $148,000 to 152,000 were heard for the East of Suez charter market for vessels of between 155,000-165,000 cubic metres capacity, according to various brokers. One-year time charters were also little changed for the most modern vessels and were available for around $47,000 per day.

Golar LNG Partners, the owner of 10 vessels, said that growing underlying demand and limited new nameplate production additions through to 2023 will result in LNG prices that help the fuel’s competitiveness and support a more sustained increase in US-Asia trade and ton-mile demand for shipping.

July 23 (LNGJ) - Shipping charter rates for LNG carriers in the spot market increased slightly over the past week. Rates were quoted at an average of between $35,000 per day and $37,000 per day West of Suez and at rates of between $32,000 per day and $34,000 per day East of Suez for vessels of between 155,000-165,000 cubic metres capacity, according to various brokers. One-year time charters were steady for the most modern vessels and were seen at rates of around $44,000 per day.

June 11 (LNGJ) - Shipping charter rates for LNG carriers in the spot market are little changed over the past week. Rates were quoted at an average of between $33,000 per day and $31,000 per day West of Suez and at rates of between $31,000 per day and $29,000 per day East of Suez for vessels of between 155,000-165,000 cubic metres capacity, according to various brokers. One-year time charters were steady for the most modern vessels and were seen at rates of around $43,000 per day.

May 7 (LNGJ) - Shipping charter rates for LNG carriers in the spot market were little changed over the past week. Rates were quoted at an average of between $37,000 per day and $33,000 per day West of Suez and at rates of between $34,000 per day and $30,000 per day East of Suez for vessels of between 155,000-165,000 cubic metres capacity, according to various brokers. One-year time charters were steady for the most modern vessels and were seen at rates of around $44,000 per day.

Feb 27 (LNGJ) - Shipping charter rates for LNG carriers in the spot market have dropped again as over-supply keeps the market flat. Rates were quoted at an average of between $39,000 per day and  $34,000 per day for both main charter markets, West of Suez and East of Suez, for vessels of between 155,000-165,000 cubic metres capacity, according to various brokers. One-year time charters for vessels of between 155,000-160,000 cubic metres capacity were seen at around $65,000 per day.

The Baltic Exchange freight derivatives markets for both tankers and dry cargo vessels saw increased traded volumes last year when the exchange also launched the first Forward Freight Agreement (FFA) trades in the LNG market. 

Settled against the Baltic’s recently launched suite of assessments for gas shipping, the first LNG swap took place in July 2019, with cleared trades following at the end of 2019 and open-interest building.

The Exchange said in its annual review that freight derivatives markets for both tankers and dry cargo vessels saw increased traded volumes in 2019.

In LNG, the London-based Exchange collects data from shipping brokers to provide assessment of three routes on the CME Group trading platform.

These are from Australia’s Gladstone port in Queensland to Tokyo, from the US Sabine Pass LNG plant in Louisiana, owned by Cheniere Energy, to the UK. A third freight contract is from Sabine Pass to Tokyo.

In the overall freight derivatives markets Tanker Forward Freight Agreement (FFA) volumes were up 38 percent in 2019 compared the previous year, reaching 473,113 lots. 

Dry FFA volumes hit 1,632,773 lots, up 11 percent on 2018. 

One lot is defined as a day’s hire of a vessel or 1000 metric tonnes of ocean transportation of cargo.

“It was another solid year in 2019 for the freight derivatives market,” said, Baltic Exchange Chief Executive Mark Jackson.

“Underpinning these volumes are both volatility in the freight markets and trust in the Baltic Exchange’s settlement data,” he said.

“Last year both the dry bulk and tanker markets experienced big swings, with issues ranging from the Vale iron ore disaster, attacks on tanker shipping in the Middle East and IMO2020 impacting sentiment,” added Jackson.

The Exchange has also just launched in February 2020 daily spot ocean freight rate indices for 40-foot containers (FEUs).

The rate is now available via the Exchange and the Freightos Group, adding real-time, transparent price discovery and risk mitigation into the container freight market that powers global trade. 

The Freightos Baltic Index (FBX) has been produced weekly since April 2018 by digital freight platform Freightos, based off of live pricing data from hundreds of global logistics providers.

“With the robust, real-time data, as well as oversight from the Baltic Exchange, the FBX is positioned better than ever to provide a true pulse of the market in one of the world’s largest and most important industries,” said Freightos CEO Zvi Schreiber.

“Container shipping pricing has become volatile and FBX will be the foundation of index-linking and future derivatives which allow carriers, forwarders and imports-exporters to hedge their risk, as is already customary in other industries,” added Schreiber.

The Exchange, which already manages a diverse range of benchmarks for the global shipping markets, is also in the process of applying for Benchmark Administrator status with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).