Buques LNGs no aptos para cardiacos

Bueno, el boom que últimamente ha sido el mercado de los LNGs parece que va a continuar durante bastante tiempo, aunque siempre se encuentran dificultades y fluctuaciones que ponen en dificultades a los "valientes" que quieren invertir en ellos. Aquí os dejo unas interesantes reflexiones de uno de los gurús del tema:

YOU LOVE A CLIFF-HANGER
Owners looking to join in LNG feast will require a head of heights, Stopford says.

Shipowners expecting to reach the dizzy heights of success in the LNG sector may want to hold onto their hats, Clarksons research guru Martin Stopford says.

While LNG ticks all of the right boxes for shipping investors right now, the course of a good story in the industry never has run smooth, Stopford warns. In a report, he said: "LNG presses all the right buttons - rapid growth, high tech and it's super-green. "But it's still shipping and the natural enthusiasm of shipping investors can transform a nice solid investment story into a cliff hanging saga."

Stopford says shipping always embraces anything with a good story, but this often backfires. "What starts out as a dead cert often ends up as a dead cat bounce," he said.

LNG is a great example, having provided investors with a bumpy ride despite demand calling for 20 new ships per year since the turn of the millennium, he explains. A total of 178 newbuildings ordered between 2004 and 2007 lined up with demand, but the timing of the orders still provided a problem, Stopford wrote.

"Many of the ships were to carry Middle East exports, but as the deliveries hit the market in 2008 and 2009 the projects slipped and trade stagnated, he said. "Soon 18 ships were moored off Fujairah. To rub salt in the wound, new technology to extract methane from the USA's giant shale gas reserves meant that suddenly it was no longer a major potential LNG importer.

"But in late 2010 Qatar finally commissioned its last LNG train. Exports jumped to 56mt in 2010 and should hit 77mt in 2011. In March Japan's tsunami overwhelmed the Fukushima nuclear power station, creating an energy shortfall. Short-term rates boomed to $100,000 per day."

Today LNG looks certain to enjoy the rewards of a back lash against nuclear power, while large gas reserves in the Middle East, Russia, Australia and Africa further fuel the logic of buying new LNG vessels, he says.

"But LNG still has teething problems," Stopford argues. "It remains a small, highly capital intensive and supply driven business. "A 160,000-cbm LNG ship that carries 86,000 tons of LNG costs $200m, compared to $50m for an oil tanker of similar cargo capacity.

"The shore based facilities are even more expensive and delays are almost the norm."
Fuente: Tradewinds