State-owned
LNG giant QatarEnergy signed a shipbuilding deal with China State Shipbuilding
Corporation (CSSC) for the construction of 18 QC-Max LNG carriers, marking
that CSSC has bagged the largest single order.
The giant
vessels, 344 meters long and 53.6 meters wide, will have a capacity of 271,000
cbm. These vessels worthy more than 40 billion RMB will be built and
constructed by CSSC Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding.
Back in
2020, QatarEnergy entered into an agreement with Hudong-Zhonghua to reserve LNG
ship construction capacity in China for its future LNG carrier fleet
requirements, including for the North Field expansion projects. In April 2022,
QatarEnergy signed charter deals for four Hudong-Zhonghua LNG carriers with
Japan’s MOL, completing the first batch of charter contracts awarded under its
massive shipbuilding program. After that, QatarEnergy signed charter deals with
MOL for three new carriers, and five LNG carriers with a consortium of Japan’s
NYK, K Line, Malaysia’s MISC, and China LNG Shipping. In Jan 2024, QatarEnergy
signed a shipbuilding deal with China’s Hudong-Zhonghua for the construction of
eight Q-Max LNG carriers as part of its shipbuilding program. The giant vessels
will have a capacity of 271,000 cbm and are scheduled to be delivered in 2028
and 2029.
Including
these 18 QC-Max carriers, Hudong-Zhonghua will build in total 38 LNG carriers
as part of the shipbuilding program.