Canada shakes up global propane trades with new terminal
Canada’s first propane export terminal – Altagas’s Ridley Island Export Terminal (RIPET)– has become operational, upping global LPG supplies.
“The entry of the country as a new LPG supplier and the strategic location of the terminal will favour exports to Asia and provide an opportunity for Canada to garner a good share of the Asian LPG market,” Drewry Maritime Research stated in a new report.
A first shipment of propane has now departed Canada’s west coast and is now bound for Japan’s Kyushu LPG Fukushima terminal.
The total voyage time on a Prince Rupert to Chiba trade will be just 10 days, compared with 25 days for a voyage between Houston and Chiba, via the the Panama Canal.
“RIPET has the potential to have a negative impact on LPG tonne-mile demand,” Drewry pointed out, also predicting that a rise in Canadian LPG production will also impact Asian LPG imports from other regions.