Hudong-Zhonghua announced on Friday that it has signed a shipbuilding contract with a Greek shipping company for four 174,000-cbm LNG carriers.
The contract also includes two optional vessels.
The shipbuilder said that the project progressed from initial discussions to contract signing in just 56 days, “fully demonstrating the shipowner’s high recognition of Hudong-Zhonghua’s LNG carrier construction capabilities.”
Hudong-Zhonghua did not disclose the price or the delivery dates.
The shipbuilder did not mention TMS in the statement, but it did state that it built eight bulk carriers for this client between 2005 and 2012.
The image below, published by Hudong-Zhonghua, shows that George Economou was present at the signing ceremony.
Also, shipbuilding sources recently said that TMS Cardiff Gas was in talks with Hudong-Zhonghua for four LNG carriers.
The TMS Cardiff Gas website shows that the company currently manages an LNG fleet of 16 vessels.
Sources said that TMS is expected to pay between $230 and $240 million for each vessel.
Hudong-Zonghua should deliver the vessels in 2028 and 2029.
According to Hudong-Zhonghua, the LNG carriers under this contract are the fifth-generation Changheng series vessels independently developed and designed by the shipbuilder.
The vessels in these series feature GTT’s NO96 Super+ containment tech and WinGD X-DF 2.0 engines.
With the new order, the global order book for this vessel type has reached 45 units, Hudong-Zhonghua said.
