Gas carriers seem invulnerable to market downturn. While commercial ships, such as containership, bulker and tanker, have been hit hard by protracted shipping market stagnancy, LNG carrier and LPG carrier segments stay strong with high demand.
Gas carriers are still at high in their value, regardless of their ages, sizes, etc.
According to VesselsValue.com, a five-year-old large LNG carrier with capacity of an average 160,000-cbm is worth $172.2m, up more than $10m from the start of 2009.
Meanwhile, very large crude carriers' spot market earnings are worth 62% of their 2007 value, a normalized basis of 100%.
Moreover, many of 40-year-old gas carriers are still in service while VLCCs in ages of some-ten years are sold for scrap recently, amid tonnage overcapacity.
VesselsValue.com also explained another reason for its long lifesan, saying "Gas is very light and non-corrosive so the tanks will stay intact for longer."