Reports and Presentations

The theme of this year’s report, “Energy for a Changing World”, reflects the essence of our commitment to navigate the challenges and opportunities from a rapidly transforming global energy landscape.

2022 proved to be a good year for BW LPG, despite continuing pressure from seafarer movements, supply chain issues, and an inflationary cost environment. This report showcases our efforts in 2022 to deliver energy the world needs while acting for the environment.

2021 was another year living under a pandemic. The LPG sector was highly volatile as price swings affected the arbitrage and movement of cargoes from the US to the Far East. The pandemic has impacted energy demand and it has driven up operating costs. Above all, it has been hard on our seafaring colleagues.

2020 has been a tumultuous year. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten health and disrupt economic activity, putting millions of jobs at risk along with the well-being of individuals and families. BW LPG has focused on ensuring that our 2000 or so colleagues around the world, on shore and at sea, remain safe. We are proud of the determination and commitment demonstrated by our employees in the face of this crisis.

The global shipping market over the course of the financial year was largely positive. The sector upswing in the second to fourth quarters was spurred on by strong demand for LPG in the US, India and China, and greater affordability of LPG. At the same time, the market adjusted for 2018’s oversupply of vessels, resulting in higher shipping rates.

BW LPG continued to maintain an even keel in the face of another challenging year. The LPG shipping sector faced sluggish VLGC day rates and ship oversupply during the year. This was mitigated by strong oil prices and US LPG production growth, which allowed the oversupply of VLGCs to be partially absorbed and the US-Far East LPG arbitrage to widen at times, which allowed for rates to improve towards year end.

The year proved to be a test of our strategy and our business plans amidst a challenging year for the LPG segment. We saw strong headwinds from ship oversupply continuing to blow. Spot rates for VLGCs were at their lowest since 2009, continuing a weak trend from 2016. Tighter Far East-US LPG price spreads contributed to cargo cancellations from the US, and the OPEC production cuts also meant lower Middle East volumes.

Having executed fleet growth during the market downturn, the Company continued to focus on operational improvements, reducing cost, enhancing our commercial performance and optimizing human capital.

Covid-19 has accelerated changes, and the shipping industry has capitalised on this momentum to make big strides in technology towards a zero-carbon future. As rightly described by many in the industry, collaboration is the fuel of the future.

Sustainability is a priority at BW LPG and an integral part of being Best on Water. We continue to focus on competitive, sustainable solutions to secure enduring value for our society and stakeholders. We have a responsibility to keep propellers turning and energy moving to world markets.