COSCO Shipping Group has placed an order for two very large liquefied gas carriers (VLGCs) with COSCO SHIPPING (Qidong) Offshore, shipbroker sources said.
The new vessel has a cargo capacity of 88,000 cubic meters and the cost has not yet been announced; based on market prices, the current cost of each VLGC is approximately $120 million.
It is worth mentioning that on November 29, Marine Design and Research Institute of China (MARIC) signed an 88,000 cubic meter class VLGC design contract with COSCO SHIPPING (Qidong) Offshore.
The vessel is equipped with LPG dual-fuel main engine and shaft generator, with a total length of 230 meters and a beam of 32.25 meters. It adopts A-type independent liquid cargo tanks, and the ship type optimization further improves the tank capacity utilization. The vessel can not only transport LPG, but also be compatible with the transportation of liquid ammonia to meet the market demand for liquid ammonia transportation in the future.
This will be the first time for COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry to undertake VLGC construction, successfully expanding the field of new ship types.