Another LNG carrier for QatarEnergy’s expanding fleet starts coming together in Korea

China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES) has initiated the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier that will be part of QatarEnergy’s growing fleet at Samsung Heavy Industries’ shipyard in South Korea.

A steel-cutting ceremony marked the start of construction of LNG carrier with hull no. 2694, one of the ten vessels for which CMES won a long-term charter contract bid in QatarEnergy’s 2024 fleet expansion tender.

Xu Hui, deputy general manager of CMES and general manager of China Merchants Gas Transportation, pressed the start button together with Li Wanggen, general manager of the Samsung shipyard.

In his speech at the groundbreaking ceremony, Hui said that this is an important symbol of the cooperation between CMES, Qatar Energy, and Samsung Heavy Industries.

Hui added that this is another proof of Chinese shipping companies’ participation in the global clean energy supply chain. In an effort to contribute to the global energy low-carbon transformation and practice “technology-driven, green navigation,” CMES intends to continue to deepen collaboration with international shipyards and technical partners to build a safe, efficient, and sustainable LNG transportation system.

As disclosed by CMES, the 174,000-cubic-meter (cbm) LNG carrier under construction has a total length of 299 meters and a beam of 46.4 meters. Featuring the advanced Mark III Flex membrane cargo hold containment system, the vessel is equipped with a dual-fuel propulsion system and incorporates various energy-saving technologies.

Last week, another Chinese player, China LNG Shipping (Holdings) Limited, delivered an LNG carrier to the Qatari major. Named Al Tuwar, this is the first of its three 174,000-cbm Q-Flex LNG carriers to be delivered to its charterer, QatarEnergy LNG Marketing.

The start of construction at Samsung Heavy was the latest milestone in QatarEnergy’s historic fleet expansion program, which includes 128 vessels. Another one took place in March, when Hanwha Ocean hosted a steel-cutting ceremony for eight new LNG carriers being built for the Qatari player.