Bestobell Marine’s rising profile in the Chinese LNGC market has been boosted by the award of a contract to the UK based company, for six shipsets of its full range of cryogenic cargo globe valves from Hudong Zhonghua shipyard.
The six 174K LNGC have been contracted by Sinopec, China Shipping Group and MOL of Japan to ship coal bed LNG from the Gladstone field in Australia back to China. They will be the largest LNGC vessels to be built at Hudong shipyard and are due for delivery from 2015 through to 2017. These will also be the first LNGC to utilise GE’s gas turbine engine technology.
Bestobell Marine has supplied its full range of cryogenic valves to the previous four vessels being constructed at Hudong, which are to be owned by MOL as well, and chartered by Exxon Mobil. With this new order Bestobell Marine will have secured contracts for the ten most recent vessels to be constructed at Hudong shipyard, which is a major achievement as Bestobell Marine had not secured any contracts previously.
Bestobell Marine has been investing resources to expand its profile in China, not just for LNGC construction, but also for the upcoming boom in the use of LNG as a fuel for domestic vessels, as China seeks to convert its transport economy over to cleaner fuels. Bestobell Marine is well placed to be involved in this market through its experience of supplying cryogenic valves for LNG fuel systems in Europe and America.
With the likelihood of an expansion in LNGC vessel construction in China, and the expected rush to convert domestic vessels to burn LNG, China will be a strategically important market for Bestobell Marine in the coming years. And will continue to feed the expansion of the company in supplying cryogenic globe valves to the marine industry.
[mappress] Press Release, February 7, 2014