Japan's shipper NYK to double its fleet of LNG tankers by 2010

Tokyo (Platts)--30Jan2006

Japanese shipping firm Nippon Yusen Kaisha plans to expand its current
LNG fleet of 34 vessels by 135.3% to 80 tankers by 2010 to meet growing LNG
demand, a company source said Monday. 
     "We have decided to increase the number of our involved LNG vessels to
meet our growing demand from existing and new term contracts expected to be
generated from countries, such as Russia, Indonesia and Qatar," the source
said, declining to comment on investment details.
     NYK also plans to increase its fleet of 33 crude VLCCs (200,000mt) to 40
by 2010, the source added. The company also plans to increase its fleet of 11
MR and VLCC oil product vessels to 17 by 2007, the source added.
     The plan comes as other Japanese shippers also move to increase their LNG
fleets. Japan's Mitsui OSL Lines has finalized plans to expand its LNG fleet
to 77 by 2010 from the current 54, a company source said. 
     And Japan's Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, or K-Line, also plans to expand its
LNG fleet to 15 by 2009. K-Line currently operates five LNG tankers and has
booked seven additional vessels to be delivered by 2008, and three more to be
delivered by March 2009, a company source told Platts earlier.
     K-Line also plans to expand its fleet of four oil product vessels of
around 100,000mt by two vessels over the next two years, a company source
said.
     The efforts to expand LNG fleets reflects the expected rise in global LNG
industry.   
     The global LNG industry is expected to grow substantially through 2020 by
between 150% to 210%, even though major investment and strategic decisions
will be hampered by the ongoing uncertainty of major market fundamentals,
according to a report released by Cambridge Energy Research Associates last
year. 
     The LNG industry will grow more in the next seven years than it has in
the last 40 years, with LNG becoming a crucial component for major oil and gas
companies to sustain growth, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based consultant
said in a press release describing the report.

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