China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu) has started building the second of six 180,000-cbm LNG carriers for Denmark’s Celsius Tankers, a unit of Celsius Shipping.
The shipbuilder said in a statement it has held a steel-cutting ceremony for the vessel (CMHI-282-02) on January 10.
CMHI officially started building the first of these 298.8 meters long ABS-classed LNG carriers during a steel-cutting ceremony held on October 23, 2023.
Jeppe Jensen, founder and executive chairman of Celsius, announced during this ceremony that Celsius had ordered two more LNG carriers (vessels number 5 and 6) at the Chinese yard.
The Danish firm now has six firm LNG carriers on order at the Chinese shipbuilder but with six more options.
In December 2022, Celsius and CMHI signed the 4+2+2 contract for the 180,000-cbm LNG carriers with deliveries scheduled in 2026 and 2027.
Celsius chartered the first four LNG carriers to Clearlake Shipping, a subsidiary of energy trader Gunvor, and these vessels will be delivered in 2026 and 2027.
The Deltamarin-designed vessels will feature MAN ME-GA engines and GTT’s Mark III Flex containment system.
The China Merchants yard in Jiangsu won a license from GTT in October 2022 to construct large LNG carriers using GTT membrane technologies.
Following deliveries of these six ships and the vessels being built in South Korea, Celisus will have 20 LNG carriers in its fleet.
The company recently took delivery of Celsius Glarus, the third vessel of ten Celsius has on order at Samsung Heavy.
Celsius will take delivery of the seven remaining newbuilds from Samsung Heavy during 2024-2026.