China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES), a unit of China Merchants Group, said it would order two more 175,000-cbm LNG tankers from China’s Dalian Shipbuilding Industry (DSIC).
According to a statement by CMES, the company’s board approved the construction of two LNG carriers with a capacity of 175,000 cbm, authorizing the management to sign the shipbuilding deals with DSIC.
CMES said each of the LNG carriers is worth about $235 million.
The firm did not provide any additional information.
Earlier this year, CMES placed an order for two dual-fuel LNG carriers with GTT’s Mark III Flex membrane containment system for $380 million, DSIC’s first order for large LNG carriers.
After that, the firm exercised an option for two more LNG carriers worth $400 million, boosting the total to four vessels.
Three out of four of these LNG carriers will go on charter to Sinochem as CMES signed LNG carrier charter deals in August with Sinochem worth up to $2.5 billion.
CMES and DSIC also signed a letter of intent for the construction of 2+2 175,000-cbm LNG carriers and this new order is most likely related to that.
DSIC would deliver two of these LNG carriers in or before the second half of 2026, and the two optional ships in the second half of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027, CMES previously said.
This new order brings the total to six confirmed LNG carriers and two options.
Besides these orders by CMES, shipbuilding sources told LNG Prime that Greece’s Dynagas is also looking to order LNG carriers at DSIC.
Dynagas, together with CSSC’s financial leasing unit, CSSC Shipping, is planning a 3 + 3 order for LNG carriers with a capacity of 200,000 cbm, according to the sources.
