Just over 20 LNG carrier newbuilding orders were placed in the first half of this year but the number of berths confirmed slowed in the second quarter compared to the busy January-to-March period.

Figures from yards and shipbrokers show that eight LNG newbuildings were contracted from April to end-June, half of the 16 clocked up in the first three months of 2018.

The contracts bring the six-month tally to 26 vessels. The total includes two floating storage and regasification units and two LNG bunker vessels (LNGBVs).

Greece’s Minerva Maritime and Turkish state energy company Botas were the newcomers to the yards on LNG.

Aside from the LNGBVs, all the vessels were contracted at South Korea’s big three shipyards, with DSME taking the lion’s share of the business.

All three shipyards now say they have sold out of new berth slots for 2020 deliveries on LNG carriers. Clarksons' Shipping Intelligence Network database shows nine LNG carriers signed up for 2021 to 2022 handover dates.

Brokers say the price for LNG carrier newbuildings has also risen with ships now priced at $185m plus, depending on the specifications. This compares with levels close to $180m which were secured by owners at the start of this year.

Few market players appear clear of what might be firmed up in the second half on LNG carriers.

Equipment manufacturers and designers talk of at least 10 more orders.

Fredriksen ups LNG newbuild tally to five Rates near six-figure mark for modern LNG tonnage

But the third quarter is already showing signs of fresh activity.

John Fredriksen has firmed up an optional vessel at DSME; K Line, NYK Line and their partners have inked an order for a small LNGBV at Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Japan; and Greek shipowner Evangelos Marinakis has pencilled in four slots at Hyundai Heavy Industries, securing options that could bump up his final total to 10 ships.

Few expect the large new liquefaction projects — like ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum’s Golden Pass LNG in the US or Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 — to progress to firm orders this year. Anadarko-led Mozambique LNG has made clear that it will start its shipping search at a planned sanction date in the first half of 2019.

Forecasters, however, continue to speak about a shortage of LNG carriers in the period from 2020, when new liquefaction capacity will have come onstream and ramped up and charter rates remain healthy with the promise of a strong finish to this year.

Market players say the combination of both these factors could tempt both existing and wannabe LNG shipowners back to the yards this year.

LNG newbuildings contracted in first half 2018