Singapore’s Singfar Group plans to build up to four new LNG bunkering vessels to expand its fleet.
Singfar will enter into an agreement with Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp, to build two 20,000 cbm LNG bunkering vessels with options for two vessels of the same type, with delivery of the first two newbuildings expected in August 2027, it has been reported. Pricing has not yet been finalized and the project is moving forward.
Singfar is well known for its bunkering business, with its MGO and MFO barges ranging from 500 to 6,200 tons of oil capacity and capable of bunkering a wide range of vessels from VLCCs to offshore drilling rigs.Singfar is also active in the crude and product tanker market, with a number of tankers on order from Chinese shipyards since 2023. This order will be the first time this shipowner has ordered an LNG bunkering vessel.
In August 2023, Singfar ordered four 50,000 dwt MR product tankers from CSSC Chengxi Shipyard, which will be delivered from 2026; in April 2024, two 115,000-dwt Aframac tankers were ordered at New Times Shipbuilding. The tankers will be delivered and chartered to Malaysian AET at the end of 2027; in addition, a 6,700-dwt oil tanker will be delivered from Lianyungang Shenghua Shipbuilding in 2025.
If this order is finalized, it will be the first time for Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding to build LNG bunkering vessels, with orders taken by the shipbuilder in 2024 dominated by feeder container ships and LPG carriers.
In 2024, shipbuilders who undertake orders for LNG bunkering vessels include Nantong CIMC Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering Co., Ltd (CIMC SOE) (6+1 ships), Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding (1+1 ships), and South Korea’s HD Hyundai Mipo (7 ships).