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NEWS BULLETIN
TANKER SHIPPING
DORIAN ON THE UP
Dorian LPG has reported revenues of $73.2m for its first fiscal quarter to end June 2020, up from $61.2m a year ago, with average timecharter equivalent rates for its very large gas carriers (VLGCs) up by 39 per cent at $41,249/day. Adjusted net income came in at $12.7m, slightly up on last year’s $12.1m. “I am grateful to our seagoing and shore staff for their contribution in achieving a good financial result for this quarter during which the company faced challenges particularly relating to crew movements and the drop of the Baltic [Index] from [$50/tonne] at the beginning of April to [$30/tonne] at the end of June,” says John C Hadjipateras, chairman, president and CEO. “The market has since recovered to over 60 and I believe the company is strongly positioned as global conditions begin to normalise.” Dorian LPG reports that global seaborne LPG liftings during the April-June period amounted to 26.8m tonnes, down 2.7 per cent
HCB MONTHLY | SEPTEMBER 2020
on the year-earlier figure, though liftings for the first six months were slightly ahead. US exports were 5.2 per cent higher in the second quarter, while Middle East exports dropped by 8.1 per cent on the back of oil production cuts. “A return to more favourable commodity price relationships, the ongoing increase in secular demand for LPG as a more environmentally friendly alternative to other forms of energy and forecasted high levels of US exports as evidenced by export capacity and pipeline investments are expected to provide long-term support for VLGC demand,” Dorian LPG says. www.dorianlpg.com SHORT-TERM BOOST FOR EPIC
Epic Gas, a leading player in the fully pressurised LPG tanker sector, has reported second quarter revenues of $45.9m, up 13 per cent year on year, with EBITDA jumping 73 per cent to $16.6m and net income swinging from a loss of $1.6m to a profit of $4.5m. The results reflect a larger
fleet and also reduced operating costs, due in no small part to the inability to perform crew transfers during Covid-19 lockdown conditions. Those benefits are likely to be short-lived, though. Epic Gas expects growth in seaborne LPG trade for the year as a whole to be around 0.8 per cent, well down on earlier expectations of a 5.0 per cent growth and also below the projected 1.5 per cent growth in the pressurised fleet. “Operational challenges caused by Covid-19 are escalating and include an inability to fully deploy and repatriate crew, delays to spares and dry docking, and quarantine issues in some ports,” says CEO Charles Maltby. “Despite our strenuous efforts, we expect these challenges to remain with us for the rest of the year, and to lead to increasing [operating] costs. We fully endorse the work of international organisations and industry bodies to unlock the global log jam on safe crew transfers and are grateful to our seafarers for their forbearance.
