Copenhagen-based Evergas and Hong Kong-listed JHW Engineering & Contracting have entered into an agreement to build four Ineos Max liquefied ethane/ethylene carriers.
The deal includes two more carriers on option to be built at a shipyard in China, the two companies said in a joint statement released on Monday.
Evergas said it expects to start taking delivery of the 32,000 cbm carriers from the first quarter of 2018.
The dual-fuelled vessels which will use LNG to power their engines “ will release the LNG transportation capacity of the existing Dragon series of LNG carriers,” according to Evergas .
Until now, three of total eight 27,500 cbm LNG carriers have been delivered to Evergas. The Danish shipping company signed 15-year agreements with Ineos for the transportation of ethane into Europe from the US Mariner East project.
With delivery of the Ineos Max, the LNG carriers will be available for trade on the growing mid-size LNG transportation market, Evergas added.