China Gas Holdings Limited (China Gas) and its joint venture partners, Hong Kong shipowner Wah Kwong Maritime and CSSC (Hong Kong) Shipping, are joining forces to order two additional 175,000 m3 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers at Dalian Shipbuilding.
China Gas announced on Tuesday (March 12) that its wholly-owned subsidiary China City Gas, Summit Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wah Kwong Maritime, and Fortune Clean Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CSSC (Hong Kong) Shipping, entered into a 2024 Joint Venture Agreement, under which a 2024 Joint Venture Company was established to acquire, own and charter two LNG carriers.
Under the 2024 Joint Venture Agreement, China City Gas, Summit Energy and Fortune Clean Energy will subscribe for 30%, 45% and 25% of the shares of the Joint Venture Company, respectively. The JV will establish two wholly-owned special purpose companies to acquire and own, respectively, two LNG carriers to be designed and built by a third party shipbuilder.
The two new LNG Carriers will be constructed by Dalian Shipbuilding. China City Gas will be the lessee to charter the 2 LNG carriers under long term contracts for a period of 20 years at a daily rate of approximately US$87,000 to US$100,000 per unit.
It is understood that Dalian Shipbuilding had signed a contract in August 2023 with SEA JADE INVESTMENT LIMITED, a joint venture of Wah Kwong Maritime, China Gas and CSSC (Hong Kong) Shipping, for the construction of 2+2 175,000 m3 LNG carriers, with the first 2 units expected to be delivered in 2027. Earlier this year it was announced that SEA JADE INVESTMENT LIMITED would exercise an option for 2 optional LNG carriers.
The 175,000 m3 LNG carrier is independently developed by Dalian Shipbuilding, with a cargo hold capacity of 175,000 cubic meters. It adopts the Mark III Flex cargo containment system developed by GTT, with four cargo holds, and the liquid cargo system is only used for the transportation of LNG cargo, and it is also equipped with a re-liquefaction system.
It is fitted with two WinGD LNG dual-fuel low-speed main engines with integrated iCER system, which reduces oil and gas consumption while enabling both fuel oil and gas modes to meet the most stringent International Maritime Organization emission standards. Meanwhile, it adopts the latest optimized double stern line type, high efficiency propeller and high efficiency twisted rudder with rudder ball to further improve the hydrodynamic performance and enhance the safety redundancy of the propulsion system.
The LNG carrier can dock at most of the world’s large LNG shore stations, providing excellent portability and ship-to-shore compatibility. Equipped with 4 sets of dual-fuel generators, the optimized design can cover the power load demand under different working conditions.
Previously, Dalian Shipbuilding, Wah Kwong Maritime and CSSC (Hong Kong) Shipping have already cooperated several times on projects such as Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) and 85,000 dwt bulk carrier.