French orders to foreign shipyards

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68 US$ 1,000 PCM 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 Although such a situation of reduced availability, demand and global movements was not a real surprise with the post-crisis effects in the petrochemical industry, one of the main locomotives for end users' consumption and therefore shipping sensitivity. The same was quite disappointing for shipping activity all along the year until some reverse and encouraging signs were observed during the last quarter. As usual every year, a sporadic but positive activity took place thanks to plants "outages" in Europe and Far East, giving the owners exposed with idle tonnage some temporary relief. Product pricing as well, mainly ethylene and propylene, reached very high cif levels which should logically be a good support for shipping, but the corresponding lack of molecules did not allow enough transportation demand. The year 2000 should see a reverse tendency however, with a firmer activity due to increased consumption and corresponding higher transportation requirements for petrochemical gases. Last but not least, a special note should be made on the bunker price which, following the oil barrel price, has gone up by more than 100% since early 1999. Spot freight rates or time-charter equivalents should therefore be read carefully when comparing freight rates over a 12 month period, as voyage economics are significantly affected by such wide bunker fluctuation. LPG carriers 3,000-20,000 cbm medium-term t/c (6/18 months) 12-20,000 cbm 6-11,000 cbm Ethylene 3-5,000 cbm Jan 94 Jan 95 Jan 96 Jan 97 Jan 98 Jan 99 Situation by ship size segments • VLGC - 70,000 to 86,000 cbm A very difficult first half year for the few owners controlling this segment of tonnage, more exposed to the spot market after the redelivery of many previous time-chartered ships. The freight rate for the usual benchmark LPG voyage from the Middle East Gulf to the Far East reached a bottom level of mid/high $10's level by April, and slowly stabilised between $25 and $27/mt until October prior firming up at $32-33/mt by mid-December. The time-charter equivalent for such voyages on a 75,000 cbm at today's bunker prices gives a fluctuation ranging between $375,000 per month for the lowest freight rate to $775,000 for the highest $33/mt level. We can observe the volatility of this market despite it is controlled by very few operators. There again, higher prices of LPG had negative impacts on the shipping movements. Period coverage was moderately active with a few ships secured from 3 to 12 month periods at time-charter monthly levels ranging between $600,000 to $700,000 depending upon vessels specifications and period involved. Several newly built units ordered in 1997 and 1998 will be delivered to their contractors (the latest being Sonatrach's 84,000 cbm "Reggane" from Kawasaki yard delivered in early December) during 2000 and 2001. It will be interesting to see how this additional capacity will affect the sensitive balance of this specific segment of the LPG market.
In this respect, the Chevron/Dynegy orders for two 78,000 cbm placed in September 1998 are now reported as being cancelled. • Large LPG carriers - 50,000 to 60,000 cbm With some heavy weakening during the second quarter of the year, which led a few units to quit temporarily the LPG market and trade within the clean petroleum products, the balance of the year turned out to be more positive in December. Regular ammonia exports from the Black Sea to the USA together with sporadic employment in LPG were the main traffic activity where owners had to find their ways. The usual impact of larger and smaller size ships often affects the market potential of those ships, a situation that might persist until adequate storage and terminal facilities will permit a wider use of such size ships. The average monthly time-charter equivalent for spot employment did not give owners much in excess of $400,000 whilst charterers wishing to secure a period coverage had to pay in excess of $550,000, increasing to mid $600,000 level at the end of the year. With several units built in the 1970's, this size segment is, on an average basis, fairly old and we would not be surprised to see one or two owners considering the replacement of such units. • Mid-size LPG carriers - 24,000 to 43,000 cbm A popular size segment mainly for ammonia trade with irregular incursions in the LPG scene, which gives more US$ 1,000 PCM 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 0 flexibility to owners operating those units, despite extra costs involved for changing grade. Further consolidation was again the main feature of this market segment whereby a Belgian owner/operator has secured the commercial management of close to 30 units within this size group. The first half of the year was a troubled period with higher percentage of idle time between spot voyages. The next six months showed a reverse trend and increased activity with more reasonable results from November, and spot rates sometimes giving higher timecharter returns than those achieved on larger ships. As usual, when such a situation arises, a few traders chose to cover themselves at firmer time-charter numbers in order to secure the right ship at the right time in the right position. The consolidation impact may incline some product operators in further similar moves in the coming months. We would remind again the fragile line along which, too fast rising rates might affect the traffic or push ship users to find alternative solutions. • Semi-refrigerated LPG carriers - 8,000 to 23,000 cbm By far, the most troubled and affected size group of tonnage seriously hit by the petrochemical industry doldrums of the past three years. Idle time and limited traffic in all product categories were the permanent headache with owners all along the year. LPG carrier 24,000-85,000 cbm short-term t/c or t/c equivalent to spot voyages 24-40,000 cbm 50-60,000 cbm 70-85,000 cbm Jan 94 Jan 95 Jan 96 Jan 97 Jan 98 Jan 99 T h e l i q u e f i e d p e t r o l e u m g a s m a r k e t S H I P P I N G A N D S H I P B U I L D I N G M A R K E T S 2 0 0 0 69
Page 3 and 4:
Bad and good reasons ? At the end o
Page 5 and 6:
The shipbuilding market in 1999 The
Page 7 and 8:
Quarterly orders in gross tonnage (
Page 9 and 10:
In contrast, most Chinese shipyards
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As an example, production costs for
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China As it was the case last year,
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10 9.5 9 8.5 8 7.5 7 The European C
Page 17 and 18: The Asian challenge is clearly felt
Page 19 and 20: Norway Norwegian shipyards, which a
Page 21 and 22: The cruise market in 1999 1998 was
Page 23 and 24: success. Carnival tried in vain to
Page 25 and 26: European sector. Very few second-ha
Page 27 and 28: The containership market in 1999 Br
Page 29 and 30: (before absorption), Evergreen, P&O
Page 31 and 32: Teu 300,000 250,000 200,000 150,000
Page 33 and 34: 4,000-4,999 teu 17% 3,000-3,999 teu
Page 35 and 36: The reefership market in 1999 Anoth
Page 37 and 38: The spot market Compared to 1998, t
Page 39 and 40: concluded until very late. • Expo
Page 41 and 42: The dry bulk market in 1999 The pes
Page 43 and 44: 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Jan 96 US$/tonne
Page 45 and 46: US$/day 15,000 13,000 11,000 9,000
Page 47 and 48: older ladies in the 15 years-old br
Page 49 and 50: The tanker market in 1999 Crude •
Page 51 and 52: 15% At the same time, youth in the
Page 53 and 54: for us just how stagnant this marke
Page 55 and 56: their specifications and their SBT
Page 57 and 58: Dwt 12,000,000 10,000,000 8,000,000
Page 59 and 60: The chemical carrier market in 1999
Page 61 and 62: the previous year. Deliveries for t
Page 63 and 64: There are two corollaries to this.
Page 65 and 66: The liquefied petroleum gas shippin
Page 67: We believe that further consolidati
Page 71 and 72: Perceptions As mentioned, the conso
Page 73 and 74: The liquefied natural gas shipping
Page 75 and 76: In Malaysia, the Japanese market wi
Page 77 and 78: The offshore market in 1999 Allow u
Page 79 and 80: The oil-drilling world also acknowl
Page 81 and 82: 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000
Page 83 and 84: The fishing vessel market in 1999 D
Page 85 and 86: 45,000 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000
Page 87 and 88: The marine insurance markets in 199
Page 89 and 90: of future resources in order to mee
Page 91 and 92: French shipyards deliveries and ord
Page 93 and 94: Chantiers Piriou • Ships delivere
Page 95 and 96: French orders to foreign shipyards
Page 97 and 98: • Samsung (South Korea) FDS 2000
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French orders to foreign shipyards

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