Sale option on the spreadsheet for LNG carrier Excel’s partners

Belgian shipowner Exmar is looking to fix or sell a part-owned LNG carrier.

The 138,106-cbm Excel (built 2003) is due to come off-hire next month from a charter with Morgan Stanley.

It has been largely employed lifting cargoes into Argentina’s draft-restricted floating import facility GNL Escobar.

Exmar’s partners in the vessel are Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and ConocoPhillips.

The Belgian company’s chief executive and managing director Nicolas Saverys told sister newspaper TradeWinds: “We are looking at all options and that goes from long-term TC (time-charter) to short-

term TC or even a sale.”

Sales of secondhand LNG carriers have been scant but brokers pointed to Cardiff Marine’s purchase of the 149,172-cbm Fuji LNG (ex-Muscat LNG, built 2004) for $182.5