China’s Hudong-Zhonghua said that CSSC Shipping’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier, Wen Cheng, has completed its sea trials.
According to a statement by the shipbuilder, the LNG tanker completed the trials in less then 48 hours and returned to the yard on July 26.
With this, Hudong-Zhonghua broke its record for the shortest trial voyage of a large-scale LNG vessel.
The shipbuilder did not provide any additional information, such as when it expects to deliver the vessel.
This is the third of four LNG carriers CSSC Shipping, the financial leasing unit of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, has on order at Hudong-Zhonghua.
Hudong-Zhonghua started building this 174,000-cbm vessel in December 2021 and laid the keel in September last year.
In May this year, Hudong-Zhonghua also launched the fourth LNG carrier for CSSC Shipping.
The shipbuilder already built two 174,000-cbm LNG carriers for CSSC Shipping as part of a contract signed in December 2019, while the two firms signed a shipbuilding contract for the third LNG carrier in July 2021.
The fourth vessel is also part of the original 2+1+1 contract signed in 2019.
It follows sister vessels Mu Lan, which serves PetroChina, as well as Gui Ying, which works for trader Gunvor.