Capital Product Partners welcomes 7th LNG carrier into the fleet

 South Korean shipbuilding major Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has delivered the LNG carrier Asterix I to the Greece-based shipowner Capital Product Partners (CPLP).

The shipping company bought the 174,000 cbm LNG carrier Asterix I in June 2022 while the vessel was still under construction at the Korean shipyard. Asterix I is the company’s 7th LNG carrier.

The vessel acquisition was financed through a combination of a $12 million cash deposit advanced to Capital Maritime & Trading Corp. (the “Seller”) in 2022, $184 million of debt drawn under a sale and leaseback transaction with CMB Financial Leasing and $34 million of cash at hand.

Capital Product Partners has revealed that the LNG carrier has started its seven-year employment with Hartree Partners Power & Gas Company (UK) Limited, which maintains an option to extend by an additional two years.

The dual-fuel vessel was named and delivered at a ceremony held at the yard on 17 February 2023.

Announcing the delivery, the CEO of the Capital Product Partners, Jerry Kalogiratos said that the godmother of the vessel was Alexandra Xystra, Technical Director of Capital Gas Ship Management Corp., adding that her team did “an exceptional job in supervising this vessel incorporating the latest technological advances in energy efficiency and greenhouse gases emissions abatement.”

The LNG carrier is classed by ABS. It features two Hyundai-WinGD 5X72DF dual-fuel main engines enabling it to sail on marine diesel and gas. The ship comes equipped with HHI’s self-developed Hi-ALS air lubrication system, which can cut fuel consumption by up to eight percent. The LNG carrier is fitted with energy-saving fin and rudder, also developed by Hyundai. It has been outfitted with GTT’s Mark III Flex tank containment systems which offer a guaranteed boil-off rate of 0.07% V/day, according to GTT.

The vessel is 299 meters long overall, has a breadth of 46.4 meters, and a depth of 26.5 meters.

The company’s previous six LNG carriers of the same size, Aristos I, Aristidis I, Aristarchos, Attalos, Adamastos,and Asklipios were delivered in 2020 and 2021. All six LNG carriers have been chartered out to energy majors such as BP, Hartree, Cheniere, and Engie.

Overall, the CPLP fleet currently consists of 20 vessels, which also include ten Neo-Panamax container vessels, three Panamax container vessels, and one Capesize bulk carrier vessel.