A pair of new LNG carriers owned by Greek shipowner TMS Cardiff Gas have left the shipyards of South Korean shipbuilders Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI).
The departures suggest TMS Cardiff took delivery of the two carriers at the end of March.
The 174,000m³ LNGShips Athena departed HHI's Ulsan shipyard yesterday and headed southeast in the East China Sea today, suggesting it may be rounding Japan's Kyushu Island for a cool-down and gas-up operation at a terminal on the country's southern coast. These operations are typically undertaken at Singapore, but the Uniper-chartered 174,000m³ LNG Rosenrot in January also underwent its own cool-down operation in Japan before heading to the US through the Panama Canal to load its maiden cargo, reducing the journey time to Panama from what it would be if the operation had been carried out in Singapore.
And the 174,000m³ LNGShips Empress left SHI's Geoje shipyard today, declaring for arrival at an unnamed destination on 13 April, suggesting it may be heading for Singapore to undergo its cool-down operation.
Both carriers are under term charter with Shell, as well as the 174,000m³ LNGShips Manhattan, which is set to be delivered later this month from HHI. This third delivery is scheduled to close TMS Cardiff's orderbook, with no further newbuilds ordered by the Greek owner.
Just three LNG carriers were delivered from global shipyards in March — the two TMS Cardiff carriers and the 173,400m³ BW Lesmes, owned by Norway's BW LNG, which is under charter with BP. Four carriers were delivered in February and 11 in January, although the three deliveries in March are greater than the single carrier delivery made in March of last year.
The 170,000m³ Ertugrul Gazi floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) was also delivered in March to Turkey's state-run gas supplier Botas, for installation at its Dortyol terminal. The FSRU is currently heading to the Suez Canal from Singapore, suggesting a probably arrival at the terminal later this month.
