GTT, the French LNG containment specialist has secured an order for two new LNG carriers to be built at South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries.
The liquefied natural gas vessels will be constructed at Hyundai’s shipyard in Ulsan for Korean shipowner SK Shipping, GTT said on Thursday.
The delivery of the two LNG vessels is expected to take place in 2019.
The vessels, designed according to the new IGC standards published in 2016, will be equipped with GTT’s Mark III Flex membrane technology, GTT said.
“ Mark III Flex is particularly well-suited for the highly efficient XDF propulsion system installed on SK Shipping’s LNG carriers, as the technology offers a high level of insulation performance ,” the company added.
HHI said in December it had been selected as the preferred bidder to construct up to three LNG carriers for SK E&S.
The 180,000 cbm dual-fuel carriers would transport LNG from the Freeport liquefaction facility on Quintana Island in the U.S., where SK E&S booked 2.2 milion tons of the chilled fuel per year for a period of 20 years.
The order for the two LNG tankers is reportedly worth about $400 million.
HHI has been struggling this year due to shrinking shipbuilding work at its yards. The shipbuilder is cutting costs and reducing its workforce in order to stay competitive in tough market as the industry is hit by low oil and gas prices.