The maritime shipment of LNG to Northwest Europe

This research focus on the shipment of LNG to North West Europe and the strategies employed by the market players. Gas market in North West Europe is mature and LNG shipment via sea is facing strong competition from pipelines. In terms of the shipping companies there is a relatively small movement in the segment, which still heavily relays of long term contracts but something seems to change in the near future. The objectives of this research are: a)identify the market players, b)identify the strategies they use, c)identify the forces driving LNG shipments to North West Europe and d)identify the challenges and the opportunities that lay ahead. The results from this research lead to the conclusion that the North West European market is mature and well developed. The main conclusions drawn from this study are that a successful commercial strategy for fleet deployment can be diversified as we can involve our fleet in both time charters as well as spot market trading, especially during winter. This research will try to determine a ‘real life’ perspective on how companies participate in the market, how it faces the challenges and opportunities and how their strategies are formulated.