According to the Baltic Exchange’s Weekly Market Roundups published on May 5, 2023:
LNG
With holidays in the East, and a short week in the UK the market had expected to remain flat as it has for the last few weeks. But there was some spot enquiry during the first half of the week that got participants excited for potential burst of fixing, but with most of this ending up being sold as FOB requirement the spot interest fell away and removed what little hope for improvement in rates that there had been. The price of Fuel itself has been a major driving factor in the direction of the index, which as the Fuel price fell so has the index while ballast bonus decreased driving the index down.
BLNG1g Aus-Japan lost over $2,000 to finish at $50,026, the lowest we have published this year and a fall of nearly $100,000 from the year’s current high. The Pacific basin fared even worse shedding $3,770 for a BLNG3g US-Japan to close at $44,447, a fall of $117,133 from the height of January. While the BLNG2g market remained flat there had been some BFALNG trades that was good to see, so there remains life in the market yet. A small fall closed BLNG2g US-Cont at $41,439.
LPG
The week started quietly with holidays in the Far East and expectation that the fixing would stay quiet. This was the case up till the end of the week when rates and fixing took off. A sharp rise in rates of $3 in one day gave a total gain of $5.215 on the week meaning BLPG1 Ras Tanura -Chiba closed at $78.429, which gave an increase of TCE earnings of just under $7,000 to $62,868 for a round voyage. A vessel fixed in the last week of May was done so at $78 and with cargo outstanding, this will be repeated/improved upon going into next week.
It wasn’t quite as uplifting in the West where markets saw minimal gains. This bearish rate gain was not quite reflected in the amount of cargo being moved though, as brokers reported more than 85 vessels fixed in April alone. This activity coupled with the final destination for nearly three quarters of those fixtures being the Far East has put pressure on tonnage lists and will continue the rise for rates going forward. BLPG3 Houston-Chiba rose a little to close at $132.429, while BLPG2 shifted even less and closed the week 60 cents up at $77 for Houston-Flushing.
