Avance Gas Reveals Higher Earnings Capacity as More Ships on the Water

Øystein M. Kalleklev, Chief Executive Officer of Avance Gas gave today the company´s first quarter results. He posts today that Avance Gas had the best first quarter ever with a net income of $36.3 million compared to last year´s $34.7 million for the same period.

The owner and operator of VLGCs Avance Gas mentioned today that it had delivered “better first quarter numbers once and that was back in the first quarter of 2015.”  

Avance Gas said its average time charter equivalent (TCE) rate on load to discharge basis was $58,379 per day compared to $46,478 per day in the fourth quarter 2022. This was slightly ahead of guidance of $58,000 per day.

In relation to average TCE per ship, Avance Gas has only delivered better first quarter TCE numbers once before and that was back in the first quarter of 2015 when delivered TCE of $65,000 per day compared to $58,000 per day in the first quarter this year.

“We are not only delivering strong first quarter results, but we are also guiding very firm levels for the second quarter where we are now basically fully booked with expected Time Charter Equivalent Earnings of around $50,000 per day which is well ahead of our cash break-even in the low 20’s,” said Øystein M. Kalleklev.

The company is now booking ships for voyages in the third quarter and with current spot rates at around $80-90,000 per day, and expects to see “healthy earnings in the second half of 2023,” as it is said.

The company has also a higher earnings capacity with more ships on the water in the second half of the year after the delivery of Avance Avior and of her sister vessel Avance Rigel.

It has taken delivery today of its fourth dual fuel Very Large Gas Carrier (VLGC), Avance Avior, which has been delivered from Hanwha Ocean (previously named Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., ltd.) in South Korea.

Øystein M. Kalleklev, CEO furthermore said “We have however seen significant slippage of newbuilds, a large portion of the VLGCs carrying out special survey this year, and this coupled with elevated arbitrage in the price of LPG from US to Far East, has resulted in high willingness to pay for freight, which we have been able to capitalize on as evident from our results.”