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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.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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