Suez Canal traffic slips in October

LNG traffic through the Suez Canal fell on the year in October, as a slight increase in northbound traffic was offset by lower southbound transit.

A total of 30 laden LNG tankers, or 3.49mn t of LNG, transited the Suez Canal in October, down from 31 a year earlier, or 3.42mn t, the Suez Canal Authority reported. LNG traffic rose on the year in the previous two months.

Northbound traffic rose to 21 vessels, or 2.67mn t, in October from 20 vessels, or 2.36mn t, a year earlier. But the number of southbound laden crossings fell to eight, or 815,000t, from 10, or 1.06mn t, a year earlier.

The fall in southbound traffic may be partly the result of the tighter differential between delivered prices in Europe and Asia-Pacific in October compared with last year, which reduced the incentive to re-export LNG from European terminal to Asian markets. That said, drops in Dutch TTF and UK NBP near-curve prices, coupled with gains in northeast Asian delivered markets, had supported the possibility of reloads at the beginning of October. The 144,300m³ Hoegh Gallant reloaded at France's Montoir on 9 October and was set to unload at Dahej in India, having transited through the Suez Canal at the end of October.

And only one US cargo was shipped to Asia through the Suez Canal in October, down from four a year earlier, vessel tracking data show.

By Livia Gallarati

Suez canal LNG traffic mn t