South Korea’s Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries has started building a new LNG carrier for Norwegian shipowner Knutsen.
To mark the occasion, the yard held a steel-cutting ceremony on August 24 for hull No 8095.
Hyundai Samho will deliver this LNG carrier in the middle of 2023.
The vessel is one of the seven LR-classed 174,000-cbm vessels which will go on charter to LNG giant Shell. To remind, Hyundai Samho started building the first LNG carrier in this batch of seven in February.
Hyundai Samho should deliver four vessels in this batch to Knutsen during 2022, followed by two ships in 2023, and one in 2024.
These LNG carriers will feature WinGD’s dual-fuel X-DF engines but also GTT’s Mark III Flex containment system.
Moreover, the 297 meters long vessels will have boil-off management plants, air lubrication systems, and shaft generators for auxiliary power along with optimized hull and design speed, according to Knutsen.
In addition to these carriers, Shell has in July agreed on long-term charter contracts for six new sister 174,000-cbm LNG carriers, including with Knutsen.
Shell announced charters for eight ships of the same class in December 2019, six in August 2020, and four in December last year.
This puts the total to 24 new LNG carriers.
