Its quarterly loss stood at $0.3m, down from $2.5m in the corresponding period.

Partly thanks to increased utilisation of the 156,000-cbm WilPride (built 2013), total freight income was $20.8m compared to $9m a year ago and $19.9m in the previous quarter.

Awilco saw higher fleet utilisation of 86% against 58% a year ago. Voyage related expenses rose from $2.6m to $3.5m.

The Norwegian owner attributed the continuing import demand for LNG from Japan and China for its latest three-month performance.

But