Recent deliveries include an ethane carrier for a Hong Kong operator and an LNG carrier for a Greek company. Construction continues on LNG carriers for operators in China and Qatar. Orders have meanwhile been placed for MR1 tankers to be built in Brazil and a gas carrier to be constructed in South Korea.
Hong Kong-based shipping company Pacific Gas recently took delivery of a new very large ethane carrier (VLEC) built by China State Shipbuilding Corporation subsidiary Jiangnan Shipyard.
Pacific Ineos Chocolate belongs to a series of VLECs that also include the 2021-built Pacific Ineos Belstaff and the 2025-built Pacific Ineos Mio.
The newbuild has an LOA of 230 metres, a beam of 36.6 metres, a depth of 22.5 metres, and a total cargo capacity of 99,000 cubic metres. The ship will be used for the transport of ethane, ethylene, LPG and other liquefied gases.
Transpetro, the logistics arm of Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras, has awarded local shipbuilder Estaleiro Rio Grande (ERG) a contract for the construction of four MR1 tankers in a series.
The contract has a value of approximately US$427 million and will cover the construction of ships that will transport oil and oil products via coastal waters.
Petrobras expects the first ship will be delivered within 33 months. The four MR1 tankers and 48 other ships will be built as part of an ongoing fleet renewal program of Transpetro.
Dorian LPG has entered into an agreement with South Korean shipbuilder HD Hyundai to construct one 90,000-cubic-metre very large gas carrier.
Scheduled for delivery in July 2029, the vessel carries a purchase price of approximately $115 million.
Designed as a dual-fuel Panamax vessel, the newbuilding will be capable of transiting the older locks of the Panama Canal. The vessel will feature a shaft generator designed to harness mechanical energy from the main propulsion system.
China's Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding recently launched two new LNG carriers in a series.
One LNG carrier is slated for China National Offshore Oil Corporation while the other will be handed over to QatarEnergy upon completion. The acquisition of new ships is in line with QatarEnergy’s goal of operating over a hundred vessels to form what it claims will be the world’s largest single fleet of LNG carriers.
Upon completion, the newbuilds will each have an LOA of 299 metres, a beam of 46.4 metres, a depth of 26.25 metres, and a total cargo capacity of 174,000 cubic metres. Each ship will also boast a twin-skeg design as well as other systems for improving hydrodynamics.
Capital Clean Energy Carriers has taken delivery of its latest vessel, Agamemnon, a liquefied natural gas carrier built by HD Hyundai Samho.
The Greece-based shipowner reported that the 174,000-cubic-metre vessel immediately commenced a time charter with an unnamed energy company on June 17.
Running through March 2027, this initial charter will be followed by another long-term agreement at the option of the company.
