Chinese shipbuilder Hudong-Zhonghua said it has secured a contract to build one liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering and supply vessel that will work along the giant Yangtze river.
Hudong-Zhonghua said in a statement on Thursday it signed the shipbuilding deal for the 14,000-cbm dual-fuel vessel with Anhui Changjiang LNG, a unit of Huaihe Energy Group.
Anhui Changjiang LNG is the developer behind the Wuhu LNG inland terminal in Anhui, along the Yangtze river.
The construction of the new LNG vessel is part of the strategy for the “gasification of the Yangtze river”.
According to the shipbuilder, there are plans for seven LNG receiving stations with a total capacity of 13 million tons per year to be built along the Yangtze river by 2035.
Delivery in 2024
Hudong-Zhonghua said this would be the first LNG bunkering and supply vessel developed and built only by Chinese companies.
Moreover, the CCS-classed vessel will be 130 meters long, 23.60 meters wide, and with a depth of 15 meters. Also, it will feature a type B LNG tank developed by Hudong-Zhonghua.
Hudong-Zonghua said the vessel is scheduled to be put in operation in August 2024, but it did not reveal the price tag of the deal.
It already built two large LNG bunkering vessels for Japanese shipping giant MOL and charterer France’s TotalEnergies.
The 18,600-cbm Gas Vitality works in France while its sister vessel Gas Agility works for TotalEnergies from the Dutch port of Rotterdam.
LNG orders on the rise
Besides this order, Hudong-Zhonghua has this year won several contracts for LNG carriers.
This includes the six 174,000-cbm LNG carriers for MOL, CNOOC, and COSCO Shipping’s unit CSLNG, and the second CNOOC transportation project. NYK ordered these vessels with CNOOC and China Merchants Group.
In addition to these 12 vessels worth about $2.4 billion, COSCO Shipping also ordered two vessels for charter to Sinochem, while MOL ordered four ships for charter to QatarEnergy.
CSSC Shipping also placed an order in January this year.