Chinese shipbuilder breaks ground for LNG vessel pair ordered by CNOOC and Petronas

Chinese shipbuilder Hudong-Zhonghua has held a steel-cutting ceremony for two liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers it is building for a Malaysian and a Chinese client.

The ships in question – H1894A and H1887A – are 174,000 cubic meters, fifth-generation Changheng series LNG ships developed and designed by the Chinese firm, with a total length of 299 meters, a beam of 46.4 meters, and a depth of 26.25 meters. The steel-cutting ceremony for the duo was held on September 24.

The former is destined for a Petronas project, and the latter will be working at Phase II of an undisclosed CNOOC project. According to Hudong-Zhonghua, both are described as featuring several low-carbon, energy-saving technologies, boasting low energy consumption, good low-temperature performance, strong cargo capacity, and smart operation and maintenance. 

The shipbuilder claims these technologies can help reduce carbon emissions of a single day of sailing by more than 10 tons. As the company is striving to complete the annual production goals, September was a busy month, seeing the start of the construction of five new ships.

Earlier this month, Hudong-Zhonghua held a naming ceremony for the first two conventional-size LNG vessels under QatarEnergy’s historic fleet expansion program. The vessels were named Rex Tillerson and Umm Ghuwailina.

As part of the expansion program, the Qatari giant ordered 24 LNG vessels from China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), to be built at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard – six QC-Max tankers in September and 18 in April. With a capacity of 271,000 cubic meters, these are said to be the largest LNG ships ever built.