Nakilat’s newbuild ME-GI carrier has recently transited the Panama Canal for the first time, delivering a US-sourced LNG cargo to China.
The Global Energy loaded a cargo at Cheniere’s Sabine Pass LNG facility in Louisiana and transited the expanded canal at the end of November, its AIS data shows.
Some three weeks later, the 173,400-cbm tanker delivered the cargo to PetroChina’s Caofeidian LNG terminal in Tangshan on December 18, according to the data.
Cheniere Marketing International, a unit of the US LNG export player, charters the vessel that is commercially and technically managed by Nakilat.
To remind, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering delivered the newbuild carrier to Nakilat’s joint venture Global Shipping in May this year.
Qatari LNG shipping giant Nakilat owns 60% percent share in the venture while Greece’s Maran Ventures holds the rest.
Moreover, this is the first out of four LNG newbuilds the venture will take delivery of by end-2021.
Constructed in South Korea, the four vessels will each have a cargo carrying capacity of 173,400 cbm with two featuring ME-GI and other two X-DF propulsion technologies.
Furthermore, the delivery of all four newbuild LNG carriers will bring Nakilat’s fleet to 74 vessels. According to Nakilat, this is just under 12% of current global LNG fleet in carrying capacity.