Good evening, and welcome to this conference call on the activity for the first quarter of 2018 for GTT. Marc Haestier speaking, CFO, and on this call with me is Jean-Baptiste Garnier, who's in charge of investor relations. I will start with the key highlights of this first quarter. The revenues for the first quarter of 2018 amounted to EUR 64.2 million, an increase of 12.4% compared to the first quarter of last year. The order book has seen a very strong level of orders in this first quarter. We have received 11 new orders, 10 for LNG carriers and one FSRU. There have also been deliveries of 17 LNG carriers in the quarter.
So that makes an order book of 83 units, 65 LNG carriers, 13 FSRUs, 1 large liquid FLNG, and two onshore storage units. In regard to new business, LNG as a fuel, we've had an order in the first quarter for a bunker ship, which brings the order book for LNG as a fuel to 10 units, the nine ultra-large container ships, the order we received last year for CMA CGM, and this bunker ship I just mentioned. Also, on LNG as a fuel, we have also announced the completion of the test phase for a new product, which is called the LNG Brick.
Now, before commenting those numbers in some more detail, I would just give a short update of the market. And clearly the trend of Asian LNG import has been very strong. It's growing, in fact, compared to 2017. We have here a graph showing the imports for January and February. The March data is not yet available, but we see again a very strong increase in demand from China, 58%. And it's still growing for the reasons we have already discussed before, the coal to gas switch in China. And also in Japan, the slow restart of the nuclear units.
And China is the second LNG importer in Asia. Moving to the spot market and the charter rates. The charter rates have been decreasing in the first quarter. But still, the growing trend, which has been seen over the last 18 months, is still there. There are some seasonal effects, but also, LNG production stopped for 2 months at PNG LNG, which caused an additional available vessels in the Pacific area. So this is a kind of temporary issue. As far as liquefaction projects, a number are ready to be sanctioned, in order, of course, to absorb the growth in demand.
In particular, Fortuna LNG, although it is late compared to the initial schedule, the FID is still planned for this year. Also interestingly, a number of projects have signed long-term SPAs, for example, Corpus Christi, Train 3. We have a 25-year contract and a 15-year contract, which have been signed. Also, I'm not sure how to pronounce this one, but Calcasieu Pass, also, a 20-year contract. On Mozambique LNG Area 1, also contracts signed, new SPAs for, EDF in particular, and the Total, Total SPAs, of 5.1 million tons, per annum, versus a target of 8.1, which, which is required for the FID, decision.
So we're getting, we're getting closer. There's been also the announcement of a reduced tax plan for LNG Canada, which will make the, which will help making the project possible. The decision should come in 2018. Short, short word about the LNG Brick. Those of you who have the slides in front of them, you see a picture of this unit, which is in fact a self-contained product which can be installed inside a ship, and is intended for medium-sized merchant vessels with tank capacities in the range of 1,000 to 300 cubic meters. So addressing the smaller size ships segment of the market.
The test phase was completed at the end of March. Now if we look at the consolidated revenues for the first quarter, as I mentioned, the total revenues amount to EUR 64.2 million, an increase of 12.4% compared to the first quarter of last year. Revenues from royalties stood at EUR 61.5 million, an increase of almost 15%, mainly driven by LNG carriers, an increase of just short of 20%, of course, reflecting the orders received in 2017 and in this first quarter. The revenues for services were at EUR 2.6 million, down actually compared to the first quarter of last year.
A slow start for the services business in the first quarter, not representative of the full year. We have had a decrease in studies, and you remember that studies represent some sizable amount, but can be very lumpy from one period to another. Suppliers approvals were also less than last year. Of course, we only have two months of Ascenz in these numbers. So that leads us to confirm our outlook for 2018. In terms of revenue, we estimate the revenues for 2018 in the range of EUR 235 million to EUR 250 million. And EBITDA consolidated, estimated in a range of EUR 155 million to EUR 155 million.
2018 dividend amount, at least equivalent to what we paid in the previous year, 2015 to 2017, and for the following year, a payout of at least 80%. So this is the end of my presentation, but I will be happy to answer any questions you might have.
If you would like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Again, press star one to ask a question. We'll pause for a moment to allow everyone an opportunity to signal. We'll now take our first question from Guillaume Velay from Société Générale. Please go ahead.
Yes, good evening. Thank you for taking my question. A quick question on the service division, because I would have understood that Ascenz was a profitable company, or at least at the current. So given the employees currently working at Ascenz, I would have assumed that on a normalized basis, Ascenz could generate maybe $6 million to $7 million of revenue.
Mm-hmm.
Assuming, so I do not understand exactly the number, given the contribution of two months of Ascenz. I would like to know what, I would also have assumed, I know it's very tiny numbers, but with the consolidation of Cryovision, GTT America, GTT Training, it means that the core service business is down, is really dramatically down versus Q1 2017. So, could you provide us some reassurance when you are saying that it is not representative of the full year service revenue? Because I'm really, really surprised by by this number, to to be honest.
Yes, Guillaume, thank you for that question. I think your assumptions relating to Ascenz are globally not far off. But clearly, the phasing over the year is maybe not exactly linear, so that is something we need to take into account. Clearly, I mentioned studies, and you know, studies can be again very lumpy. And one or two studies different in quarters, large difference in the service revenues. So clearly, I can only speak once again that this is not a representative of the full year.
Regarding Cryovision and the other subsidiaries, have they been consolidated in Q1 2018?
Yes, yes.
Yes. Yes. Comparative figures also,
Guillaume.
Okay. Well, yes, because it was pushed up for, if I remember correctly, without-
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Welcome.
Once again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one. We'll now take our next question from Kevin Roger of Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead.
Yes, hi. Good evening, gentlemen. One quick question on my side, please. If you can give us information related to the 10 LNGC that you secured in Q1, how many are related to project under construction? Meaning that you used to present a slide with the number of projects that you still expect the function related to project under construction. How many of those 10 that were related to project under construction is?
Okay. It is a mix, in fact, in within those 10, those 10 ships. Some of them, are, I don't like the term, but speculative orders, or at, at least orders made in anticipation of, either projects currently under construction or even, future projects, which actually shows the, the strong, dynamics in the beginning of this year, on the, on the ship, shipowner's side. So we will provide certainly more detail of the breakdown, at, at half year. As you know, you know, we, we, we provide information on the order book, on a, on a 6 month basis, because clearly on the quarter it's difficult to, to, to make a pertinent analysis.
But I would say a majority of those ships were related to project... At the end of the day, will relate to projects under construction, even if they are not clearly flagged in that respect.
Okay, so the majority of the 10 vessel come from projects under construction with some speculative orders in addition?
Yes.
Okay. Understood. Thanks.
There are no further questions at this time. Mr. Haestier, I'd like to turn the conference back to you for any additional or closing remarks.
Well, if there are no additional questions, I will just have to thank you for your attention. And, look forward to speaking to you, in the future, in the near future. Thank you very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation, you may now disconnect.