Greek Shipowner Byzantine Ends Six-Year LPG Order Drought
Byzantine Maritime Corporation, a privately held Greek shipping company, has placed its first liquefied petroleum gas carrier newbuilding order since 2020, ending a six-year hiatus from the LPG shipbuilding market. The order covers two Very Large Gas Carriers (VLGCs) at Jiangnan Shipyard in China, with an estimated combined value of $190 to $200 million and delivery scheduled for 2028. The move signals renewed confidence from established LPG owners in the segment's forward fundamentals.
Why Did Byzantine Step Back — and Why Return Now?
Byzantine Maritime has operated in the LPG sector for over two decades, maintaining a mid-sized fleet of VLGCs and smaller pressurised gas carriers. The company's last newbuilding order, placed in 2020, was delivered in 2022 into a market that was still recovering from pandemic-era demand disruption and a temporary oversupply of VLGC tonnage.
Between 2020 and 2025, Byzantine focused on fleet management and selective secondhand acquisitions rather than newbuildings. This conservative posture reflected uncertainty about LPG trade growth, volatile freight rates, and a newbuilding price environment that escalated sharply from 2022 onward.
The return to ordering in 2026 reflects changed market conditions. VLGC time charter equivalent earnings averaged $52,000 per day in Q1 2026, among the highest quarterly averages on record. The VLGC orderbook-to-fleet ratio has declined to approximately 12 percent as the surge of orders placed in 2021-2022 delivers into the fleet and new ordering has slowed. Meanwhile, US and Middle Eastern LPG export volumes continue to grow, supported by expanded fractionation capacity in the US Gulf Coast and Saudi Aramco's Master Gas System expansion.
What Is Driving VLGC Demand?
The LPG carrier market is fundamentally driven by the arbitrage between low-cost production centres — primarily the United States and the Arabian Gulf — and high-demand import markets in Asia. China, India, Japan, and South Korea collectively import over 60 percent of globally traded LPG, using it as petrochemical feedstock, residential heating and cooking fuel, and an automotive fuel.
US LPG exports reached 18 million tonnes in 2025, shipped primarily from Enterprise Products' Houston Ship Channel terminal and Targa Resources' Galena Park facility. Saudi Arabia and the UAE together export approximately 25 million tonnes annually. These volumes require a growing fleet of VLGCs for long-haul transportation — each VLGC carries approximately 44,000 cubic metres (roughly 24,000 tonnes) of LPG per voyage.
The Panama Canal's operational constraints, which limited VLGC transits during the 2023-2024 drought period, have eased but continue to create scheduling uncertainty. Many US-to-Asia LPG cargoes now route via the Cape of Good Hope as a precautionary measure, adding approximately 15 sailing days per round voyage and absorbing additional fleet capacity.
What Does the Order Signal About the Greek LPG Fleet?
Greek owners collectively control approximately 35 percent of the global VLGC fleet. Companies including Dorian LPG, StealthGas, Eletson, and Byzantine Maritime form the core of Greece's gas carrier sector. The ordering pattern among these owners tends to be cyclical and often follows extended periods of restraint.
Byzantine's decision to order at Jiangnan Shipyard reflects the competitive pricing available at Chinese yards for VLGC construction. Jiangnan has emerged as one of the leading VLGC builders globally, with a strong delivery track record and design optimisation for the latest dual-fuel LPG engine configurations. The ordered vessels are understood to be equipped with MAN B&W ME-LGIP engines capable of burning LPG as fuel, reducing fuel costs and improving the vessels' environmental profile.
What Are the Terminal and Port Considerations?
VLGCs calling at LPG export and import terminals present specific safety and security requirements. LPG is a flammable gas stored under pressure, and transfer operations require rigorous exclusion zone enforcement, vapour detection monitoring, and emergency shutdown system readiness. Export terminals in the US Gulf Coast operate under US Coast Guard and MTSA security regulations, while Middle Eastern facilities operate under national maritime authority and ISPS Code frameworks.
Conclusion
Byzantine Maritime's return to the newbuilding market after six years reflects a recalibration of risk appetite driven by favourable supply-demand dynamics, strong freight rates, and competitive construction pricing. The order adds to a modest but growing pipeline of VLGC newbuildings that will enter the fleet as older tonnage ages out of premium employment. For the LPG supply chain, each new VLGC order reinforces the market's structural dependence on seaborne gas transportation — and the port infrastructure that supports it.