CMA 'cooking with gas' in 2019 Commodore selection

The prestigious award will be presented at the conclusion of the three day Conference and Exhibition, held annually in Stamford to be held in early April.

The first Commodores were local shipping executives; but over the past three decades, recipients have included leading European and Asian shipowners. The 2017 recipient was a local executive, Jack Noonan, then heading up Chembulk; in 2018, the award went to Sabrina Chao, at the helm of Hong Kong-based Wah Kwong Maritime.

Read more: Sabrina Chao named CMA 2018 Commodore

Hadjipateras is an industry veteran, with a career dating back to the early 1970s. Dorian LPG with a fleet of nearly two dozen very large gas carriers (VLGCs), between 82,000 cu m and 84,000 cu m, was listed in New York in 2014, at a time that the nascent US energy export boom was “cooking with gas”.

Energy analysts RBN Energy explained, in a January 2019 briefing: “The US flipped from being a net LPG importer to a net exporter, seven years ago, in 2012. Since then, exports by ship have skyrocketed to more than than 1.1 MMb/d, with the vast majority of that volume (about 92%, as of year end 2018) being sent out of the half dozen LPG terminals in coastal Texas and Louisiana”.

Commentary along with Dorian’s financial reports for 2018 Q3 noted: “The third calendar quarter of 2018 saw significant seaborne LPG volumes with heavy lifting schedules from the Middle East and the United States. Calendar year-to-date, total US exports are 11% above 2017 volumes. Fueled by growing production rates and improved arbitrage economics, exports from the United States peaked at approximately 2.9m metric tons, translating to a record 62 VLGC liftings in July 2018.”

They also pointed to other regions, saying: “Middle East liftings have increased by, on average, six additional cargoes each month, mostly heading East. The favourable arbitrages for both propane and butane out of the Middle East and the recent Chinese tariffs have pushed liftings higher in July and August 2018.” The consultants at RBN anticipate further growth in propane and butane production, and wondered, in a mid-January followup, whether US terminal capacity was sufficient to meet export demand.

During 2018, Dorian LPG was embroiled in a take-over spat with Singapore based BW LPG, which ended in October, 2018 with BW LPG withdrawing its offer.