US cools on domestic LNG shipbuilding demands
The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) has modified a proposed deadline for US-built LNG carrier capacity.
In the original proposal, it called for the LNG industry to begin shipping 1% of all of its exports aboard US-built LNGCs by 2029. But given the paucity of US shipyard capacity, even this small amount has been deemed impractical. The last US-built LNG carrier entered service in 1980 and was scrapped in 2021.
Now, under Annex IV, it will no longer suspend LNG export licences if US-build LNGCs are not available, in a bid to “allay concerns” about the provision’s impact on the sector.
In the latest document, Jennifer Thorton, General Counsel, USTR, said reporting will begin in the third year (April 16, 2028) and the vessel operator ‘must report to the DOE the amount of maritime LNG exports carried on US-built and US-operated vessels, and the amount of LNG carried on foreign-built and foreign-operated vessels’. Written submissions on the proposed modifications must be submitted by 7 July.
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