NWE/MED: In the NWE market, activity was on the quiet side at the beginning of the week but towards the end there

NWE/MED

In the NWE market, activity was on the quiet side at the beginning of the week but towards the end there seemed to be a spur in activity with quite a few enquiries and fixtures to report. The majority of activity seen was on coa biz with quite a few trader and major re-lets reportedly fixed. Also the spot market was active but not as high as one would expect. As far as vessel availabilities are concerned the increase in demand has seen the number of prompt open vessels decrease. Also there are reportedly a few refineries offline this week due to repairs or have reduced their production rates thus activity in the region is expected to remain healthy. Furthermore as a result of this weeks increase in activity there was some pressure seen on freight rates that remained steady or were seen firmer. More specifically the propane coaster market has seen quite a few cargoes in the market this week most of which resulting in fixtures. As reported there was demand seen especially from the Conoco ECUK plant. On to the butane coaster market, activity maintains its healthy levels with the arbitrage window to the South still open but there is still some delay in confirmed fixtures. Also there has reportedly been less demand for product by petchems and crackers compared to previous weeks.

Moving to the MED now, this week market activity was slightly under pressure and there was a good deal of activity seen on the tc side of the market with quite a few deals confirmed. In the propane coaster market specifically activity was on the quiet side as with most deals done on coa side and very few fixtures seen reported on the spot side. The warm weather conditions in the area are clearly hindering this type of trade. On to the butane coaster market now, activity was reportedly on the quiet side as well with the majority of product being used for cracking purposes. Also there were no fob spot transactions reported in the area and Morocco was rumoured to be well supplied for now.

SEA/FEAST

In the Feast pressurized market activity was subdued continuing the trend seen the past couple of weeks with the spot market seen quite inactive and the only business reported was on the coa side. As far as vessel availabilities are concerned there are still a few prompt vessels open and are still waiting for new business in the region to take some length away. As reported there were some enquiries seen ex S China for Philippines and ex Singapore for Port Klang but nothing was reported firm as of yet. Lastly the Indian Ocean remains inactive on the spot side with very few suitable vessels seen in the region and the tc side as always remains more active

In the Asian petchems market now, the ppl mkrt has picked up quite a bit this week with the spot side particularly doing well. Also the coa market continues to be healthy with owners reportedly looking for cc4 and b1 cargoes to employ their vessels mainly due to all of the refinery turnarounds lately. As reported there were some fixtures seen for ppl mainly ex Map Tha Phut and Balongan for May dates primarily. Moving on to the btd market there were some enquiries seen for spot cargoes reported mainly ex Taiwan or Singapore toward Korea-China area for end May / beg June dates. On the cc4 side of the market there was a decrease in activity seen on the spot side with traders mainly in the market for end May and June dates reportedly ex Rayong for Nantong and Pasir Gudang for E China. Lastly the VCM market has been pretty silent on the spot side and the only good news that will likely boost interest in the area is the reported recommencement of the Tosoh’s 3 vcm refineries in Nanyo that had been offline due to a fire.

Time Charter Fixtures

BW Tokyo (83,000 cbm, blt 2009) was fixed for 1 month short T/C to acct SHV with del AG/mid May – hnr.

King Arthur (4,500 cbm, blt 2010) was fixed for about 1+1+1 year T/C to acct ENI with del MED/May – hire reported at about usd 400k ocn,

Syn Zania and Syn Zube (4,000 cbm, blt 2008) were each fixed for 1+1+1 years T/C to acct ENI with del May / Med – hire reported at abt usd 380k pcm / vessel 

Yamabuki (82,000 cbm, blt 2010) was fixed for 15-20 days short T/C to acct Itochu with del MEG/end May – hnr

Sale and Purchase/New Buildings

None Reported.

Scrapping

None Reported.

Source: StealthGas Inc.