Spot charter rates for the global liquefied natural gas carrier fleet are continuing to increase as winter approaches, according to Spark Commodities.

Spot LNG freight rates rose over $100,000/day in both Atlantic and Pacific for the first time since December 2021, Spark said.

LNG freight rate for a 160,000-cbm TFDE carrier reached $102,750 a day in the Atlantic on Monday.

Compared to the previous week, the rate rose by $3,50O.

Spark30S Atlantic spot LNG freight rate surged $46,250/day, or 130 percent, over August to finish at over $80,000/day, and continued to rise in September.

On the other side, the Pacific rate also rose to $110,750 per day on Monday, up by $3,750 from the last week, according to Spark.

LNG freight rates continue to rise

To remind, charter rates dropped considerably in June due to the shutdown at the Freeport LNG facility in Texas.

Last month, Freeport LNG delayed the restart of its 15 mtpa LNG export plant in Texas following an incident at the facility that took place on June 8.

The LNG terminal operator now aims to restart the facility in November.

This facility and other US LNG terminals have sent most of their volumes to Europe this year due to high gas prices and as European countries look to slash reliance on Russian pipeline gas.

Spot LNG cargo prices in Asia also surged due to high demand in Europe.

The JKM LNG price for October currently trades at above $53/MMBtu while the Dutch TTF trades at more than $56/MMBtu.