On October 19, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HSHI) delivered two 174,000 m3 LNG carriers, “Saint Barbara” and “Ignacy Lukasiewicz”, to Norwegian shipping company Knutsen.
The latest delivery of the two new vessels is the 9th and 10th in a series of 15 vessels ordered by Knutsen. The vessels in the series are 299 meters long, 46.4 meters wide and 26.5 meters high. Both vessels will be chartered to Polish petrochemical giant PKN ORLEN for a period of 10 years, and will be used by PKN ORLEN’s subsidiary PGNiG to transport LNG from the United States. Once integrated into the ORLEN fleet, the two new vessels will serve a dual purpose, fulfilling both long-term contracts and spot contracts based on Free On Board (FOB) terms.
Slated to commence sea service by the end of this year,the new vessels are set to bolster the ORLEN Group’s capacity for natural gas procurement and thus enhance Poland’s energy security.
During the first half of this year, HSHI has delivered two vessels ordered by Knudsen to ORLEN, with delivery dates in March and June. In addition, ORLEN will charter two newbuildings from Knudsen.
To date, HSHI has received orders from Knudsen for 15 LNG carriers of the same type, valued at $2.97 billion, with five more under construction.
It is reported that to meet the shipyard’s production demand and solve the problem of insufficient space for outfitting operations at the shipyard, HSHI is planning to invest about 110 billion won (equivalent to about RMB 605 million) to extend the quay shoreline to increase the docking space for ships at the shipyard. Based on the plan, the company intends to extend the shoreline of the No. 2 outfitting quay from the current 2,800 meters to 3,600 meters, which will provide more space for the installation of cold-retaining materials in the cargo tanks of LNG carriers. The extension will allow the company to berth four more LNG carriers.