CSSC Shipping, the financial leasing unit of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, has ordered another LNG carrier at compatriot shipbuilder Hudong-Zhonghua.
The two firms signed the shipbuilding deal for one 174,000-cbm LNG carrier on January 6, according to a Hudong statement.
Hudong has already built two 174,000-cbm LNG carriers for CSSC Shipping as part of a contract signed in December 2019. The two firms also signed a shipbuilding contract for the third LNG carrier in July last year.
This fourth vessel is a part of the original 2+1+1 contract signed in 2019.
Hudong said this is the yard’s first order in 2022 but it did not reveal the price tag of the contract.
Shipbuilding sources told LNG Prime that CSSC Shipping would pay about $192 million for the fourth vessel. They previously said that the price tag for the third carrier reached about $190 million.
CSSC Shipping splashed around $180 million for each of the two vessels as part of the original deal in 2019.
Part of Hudong’s fourth-generation Changxing series, the LNG carriers feature WinGD’s X-DF dual-fuel engines and GTT’s NO96 L03+ containment system.
The new carrier will also be 295 meters long and 45 meters wide.
It follows sister vessels Mu Lan, which serves China’s state-owned giant CNPC, and Gui Ying, which works for trader Gunvor.
Hudong started building the third vessel last month as well and should deliver it in 2024.