China’s Hudong-Zhonghua said it had secured an order to build one 18,600-cbm LNG bunkering vessel for French energy giant TotalEnergies.
Hudong-Zhonghua said in a statement on Wednesday the shipbuilder was selected as the winner to build the ship in “fierce competition with strong foreign rivals”.
Also, the deal includes one optional “V3.0 version” 18,600-cbm LNG bunkering vessel, it said.
Hudong-Zhonghua said the new LNG bunkering vessel will be 135.9 meters long, 24.5 meters wide, and with a depth of 16 meters. The vessel is classified by Bureau Veritas (BV).
The shipbuilder also confirmed that the ship owner of the vessel is Spanish shipping company Ibaizabal and the operator is TotalEnergies.
LNG Prime was the first to report in June, citing shipbuilding sources, that TotalEnergies had selected Hudong-Zhonghua and Ibaizabal for the construction and charter of one LNG bunkering vessel.
The price tag of the vessel is tipped to be around $90 million, while Hudong-Zhonghua is expected to deliver the ship by the end of 2026.
Third LNG bunkering vessel for TotalEnergies
This new vessel will be similar to the 135 meters long 18,600-cbm LNG bunkering ships, Gas Vitality and Gas Agility, Hudong-Zhonghua built for owner Japan’s MOL and charterer TotalEnergies.
However, it will have a better boil-off rate (BOR) and an improved engine, the sources said.
Earlier this year, a unit of TotalEnergies has completed the 100th LNG bunkering operation with its chartered vessel, Gas Vitality, in Marseille.
Hudong-Zhonghua has held a naming ceremony for Gas Vitality in October 2021 and the vessel arrived in France in December the same year.
It is the first LNG bunkering vessel to be based in France.
Gas Vitality has similar specifications as its sister ship, Gas Agility, which works for TotalEnergies from the Dutch port of Rotterdam.
Since November 2020, TotalEnergies Marine Fuels has completed more than 200 LNG bunkering operations with the two vessels, it said in October last year.