Greek shipowners have rapidly grown their interest in the LNG shipping market amid strong prospects and an expansion of spot business, new figures from Clarksons show.

Both existing and new players from the world’s number one shipowning nation and elsewhere have contributed to the ordering of almost 100 LNG carriers in the past 18 months.

It comes with LNG rates in the midst of a recovery and a long-term trend that has seen independent shipowners take a greater slice of a business historically controlled by oil majors, industrials and utilities companies.