China’s Hudong-Zhonghua has launched the fourth LNG carrier it is building for CSSC Shipping, the financial leasing unit of China State Shipbuilding Corporation.
The CSSC-controlled yard held the launching ceremony on May 4 for the LNG carrier with a working name H1830A, it said in a statement.
Part of Hudong-Zhonghua’s fourth-generation Changxing series, the 295 meters long LNG carrier features WinGD’s X-DF dual-fuel engines and GTT’s NO96 L03+ containment system.
Hudong-Zhonghua started building this 174,000-cbm vessel in June last year and held a keel-laying ceremony in November.
It is expected to deliver this LNG carrier next year.
As previously reported by LNG Prime, CSSC Shipping and Hudong-Zhonghua signed the shipbuilding contract for this vessel on January 6, 2022.
The shipbuilder already built two 174,000-cbm LNG carriers for CSSC Shipping as part of a contract signed in December 2019, while the two firms signed a shipbuilding contract for the third LNG carrier in July 2021.
This fourth vessel is part of the original 2+1+1 contract signed in 2019.
It follows sister vessels Mu Lan, which serves PetroChina, as well as Gui Ying, which works for trader Gunvor.
Hudong-Zhonghua held a keel-laying ceremony for the third LNG carrier in this batch on September last year and should deliver it in 2024 as well.