Third of Gail India’s LNG Ships to Be Built at Home

Responding to the media reporting that it will buy one third of LNG ships for ferrying gas from the US from Indian builders, India’s gas utility Gail India Ltd confirmed in a filing it will shortly come out with an LNG ship charter hire tender specifying that one ship out of every lot of three ships each would be built in India.

 
Gail has inked long term agreements with the US based companies Cheniere Energy Partner and Dominion Resources for transportation of LNG from Sabine Pass and Cove Point terminals in USA.

It plans to charter newly built ships to transport this gas to India.

“Quotes for three such lots of three ships each would be specified in the tender. It is proposed to allow 6 years delivery period for the Indian built ships as against about two and half years for the foreign built ships,” the company said.

Opting for domestic shipbuilders comes after thinking long and hard whether India has the capacity to build cryogenic LNG carriers and how long would this process take, as first estimates indicate it would take up to six years to build these indigenously.

[mappress]
World Maritime News Staff, August 1, 2014