Drewry Shipping reports on-going LNG boom

Drewry Shipping reports on-going LNG boom

Drewry Shipping Consultants, a maritime consulting firm based in London, has issued a report saying that 2004's surge in the LNG shipping industry upstaged 2003's strong growth.

   'We believe that this growth is set to accelerate further still with the record of new orders breaking 100 for the first time, and the first orders for ships with a capacity of over 200,000 cubic meters,' Drewry Shipping said in a statement,

   American imports of LNG products increased 31.5 percent in 2004. There was also a strong rise in demand for the so-called mature Japanese market, following the closure of nuclear reactors. In addition, the survey cited the first imports of LNG to India, and the first orders at Korean shipyards for non-steam turbine propulsion LNG carriers.

   Drewry Shipping forecasts that the expanding LNG trade will need even more vessels than are in the current record orderbook — as many as 176 ships. By 2010, the survey anticipated that the world LNG fleet will have grown to 320 vessels.

   For more information on the survey, visit http://www.drewry.co.uk.