Pacific Gas orders four large ethane carriers, pens charter deal with Ineos

Hong Kong-based Pacific Gas, a fully owned subsidiary of Shandong Shipping, has placed an order for four 99,000cbm very large ethane carriers with Chinese shipbuilder Jiangnan Shipbuilding (Group) Co, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation.

The contract is estimated to be worth around $540 million, with deliveries spread from late 2025 into 2026.

The VLECs have been independently developed and designed by Jiangnan Shipbuilding, and THEY belong to the shipbuilder’s “Panda” E series. They will be 230.0 meters long and 36.6 meters wide, equipped with a dual-fuel main engine that can use ethane as fuel. The ships will also be fitted shaft generators aimed at improving fuel efficiency and reducing emissions to meet environmental standards

The quartet will be outfitted with the second-generation VS-BOW bow line type patented by Jiangnan Shipbuilding as well as the BrilliancE B-type cargo tanks.

Separately, INEOS Europe AG announced that it has secured long-term charter deals with Pacific Gas for four VLECs. 

The deal will bring INEOS’ ethane fleet to 16 vessels, with eight VLEC and eight Dragon class ethane carriers. With these agreements, INEOS will have a total of six VLECs under a time charter with Pacific Gas. 

“Earlier this year, INEOS and Pacific Gas launched the two largest VLECs in the world: the Pacific INEOS Belstaff, and the Pacific INEOS Grenadier. Today’s signing marks the next stage of our cooperation with Pacific Gas, and we look forward to working with them and the other valuable stakeholders in this exciting project,” David Thompson, CEO of INEOS Trading & Shipping, said. 

“This cooperation benefits from the mutual trust and support of all parties in the project. All parties will take this opportunity to work together and complement each other’s advantages to create a new win-win cooperation in the future,” Chairman of the Shandong Ocean Group Jiang Guodong said.

The signing of the long-term time charter agreements for four 99,000 cubic meter VLEC vessels will take Pacific Gas’ ethane carrying capacity to the largest in the world.