UK’s Milford Haven port says profit drops due to volatile LNG trade

The UK’s Port of Milford Haven, home of the South Hook and the Dragon LNG terminal, has seen its profits drop due to the lower throughput of the chilled fuel.

The port recorded a profit before tax of 2.6 million British pounds ($3.7m), down 3 million pounds from the year before, and a turnover of 22.4 million pounds.

The fall in profit was due mostly to “the ongoing volatility in the liquefied natural gas industry which saw record low shipments in 2017, and in part to an additional £1m pension service charge due to changes in long term interest rates,” the port said in its 2017 annual report.

“To illustrate the volatility, in 2011 the port handled 126 LNG vessels. In 2013, this had fallen to 54, rising again to 91 in 2015, before falling to a low of 36 in 2017 – just over one quarter of the throughput in 2011,” Alec Don, Chief Executive of the Port of Milford Haven, said.

According to Don, this volatility is driven by the differential in the price of wholesale gas in the UK market compared to others markets such as the Far East and Latin America.

Total throughput volumes in the port also dropped in the year under review. The port logged a throughput of 32.1 million cargo tonnes, down 2.8 million tonnes as compared to the year before, the report shows.

LNG World News Staff