Cheniere Marketing International, a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.S. energy player Cheniere Energy, has declared the option to increase the number of newbuild liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers it will charter from Norwegian shipowner Ocean Yield and Japan’s shipping giant Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) .
In December 2025, Ocean Yield and NYK Line announced their agreement to co-invest in four LNG vessels, to be constructed at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea and delivered from 2028, noting that available charter options could double the newbuilding fleet to eight units.
Cheniere Marketing International last month signed off on long-term charter deals for the new vessels with the two partners. The charterer today, February 27, declared the option to increase the number of vessels at substantially similar terms.
The optional vessels will also be constructed in Korea, with deliveries in 2029.
Closing of the investment is subject to certain customary conditions.
The vessels will be equipped with a next-generation X-DF2.1 intelligent control by exhaust recycling (iCER), variable compression ratio (VCR) system, dual-fuel, low-speed diesel engine that uses fuel oil and boil-off gas, which is LNG vaporized in the cargo tanks during navigation, for the main engine, and a re-liquefaction system that can use surplus boil-off gas effectively.
They will have a 200,000 cubic meter capacity membrane-type tank that uses advanced insulating materials to realize superior efficiency and economical LNG transportation. These will be the first LNG carriers NYK has chartered under a long-term time charter contract with Cheniere.
With a length overall of about 294.8 meters, a breadth of around 48.9 meters, the vessels will sport WinGD’s low-pressure, dual-fuel main engine equipped with the iCER technology that is said to have the potential to reduce methane emissions by up to 50% and fuel consumption by up to about 3% in gas mode and about 5% in diesel mode.