Classification society DNV said that owners placed orders for 12 LNG-powered ships in August, mostly for car carriers.
Compared to the last month, orders dropped by 8 vessels. June still holds the record with 33 orders for LNG-powered vessels, according to DNV’s Alternative Fuels Insight platform.
The year-to-date order count now reached 161 LNG-powered ships.
Martin Wold, principal consultant at DNV, said August orders were mainly driven by car carriers.
These include orders by Japan’s MOL and SFL Corporation but also orders for tankers by Hafnia and Ocean Residences Development for one LNG-powered luxury residential yacht.
Wold added that September orders have already beaten the August count.
EPS recently booked LNG PCTCs, Shell signed a deal with Crowley for one LNG bunkering vessel, while Zim and Seaspan added five more containerships to the previous order.
Looking at the global fleet, the DNV platform shows that 221 LNG-powered ships are already in operation with 354 on order.
LNG-powered car and passenger ferries lead the way with 44 in operation, followed by 26 offshore supply ships, and 25 oil/chemical tankers.
As per vessels on order, LNG-powered containerships and crude oil tankers account for most of the orders with 71 and 55 units, respectively.
These statistics do not include smaller inland vessels.
