Japan’s top LPG supplier, Astomos Energy, said Tuesday it has placed an order to build a VLGC with a capacity of 82,200 cubic meters that will be equipped to pass through the expanded Panama Canal.
The order was placed with Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and the tanker is to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2016, Astomos Energy said, adding that the new VLGC will replace an older tanker in its fleet.
The latest move is part of Astomos Energy’s plans to scrap tankers which are 20-25 years old and build new VLGCs to replace them, while it also maintains or expands its use of chartered vessels to have a competitive and stable fleet amid expected increases in LPG output from the US and West Africa.
This is Astomos’ second order of VLGC that can transit through the expanded Panama Canal. The company had in late March, placed an order for an 83,000 cu m VLGC, that is scheduled to be delivered in the first half of 2016.
Astomos Energy’s new tanker will be part of a fleet that is time chartered and operated by Japan’s NS United Kaiun Kaisha and Idemitsu Tanker — the shipping arm of refiner Idemitsu Kosan, the company said.
As of July, Astomos Energy has a total of 21 VLGCs, of which six are its own vessels and the other 15 are time-chartered tankers.
The company aims to expand its LPG fleet to around 30 VLGCs by around 2020, Astomos Energy president Osamu Masuda said in an interview with Platts in April.
Other Japanese LPG importers are also considering expanding their fleets as more supplies from North America and West of Suez markets such as Algeria, Nigeria and Angola are expected to flow into Asia in the coming years.
Japan Gas Energy Corp., for instance, added a second VLGC to its LPG fleet on June 27 with the aim to increase its flexibility for procurements and trades with rising supplies from the US and West of Suez.
The company has sign a mid-term time-charter deal with Japanese shipper Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, or K Line, to secure the newly built 82,391 cu m VLGC Galaxy River as the second tanker in its LPG fleet.
A Japan Gas Energy source said June 13 that the company expects to use the new tanker with Itochu group companies. Itochu Enex holds a 20% stake in Japan Gas Energy, with a 51% stake held by JX Nippon Oil Energy and a 29% stake by Nissho Petroleum Gas.
Okay then….what do the initials VLGC and LPGmean?
Thanks.