Jiangnan Shipyard in China has pencilled preliminary deals for up to six newbuldings with three Asia shipping companies.
China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC), the government-owned shipbuilding group that controls the yard, disclosed that the Shanghai-based shipbuilder has inked letters of intent for gas carriers with three separate companies. The names of the buyers were not disclosed.
CSSC said two Hong Kong companies have each signed preliminary deals for two very large ethane carriers (VLECs), while a Singapore company has pencilled in two 175,000-cbm LNG carriers. CSSC puts the total value of the three newbuilding contracts around $1bn.
Officials at Jiangnan were not immediately available for comment.
According to CSSC, the two LNG carriers cost a total of about $460m, or $230m each, and Jiangnan is scheduled to deliver them by end of July 2027.
The 98,000-cbm VLECs were agreed at a price of about $135m apiece. Two of the ethane carriers are slated to be delivered by end October 2025 and the other two newbuildings are scheduled for delivery by end January 2026.
Shipbuilding brokers believe the two Hong Kong shipping outfits booking the VLECs are special purpose companies controlled by of Chinese gas player Pacific Gas Shipping.
On 11 October, TradeWinds reported that Pacific Gas aimed to triple its VLEC fleet by ordering up to four ethane dual-fuelled newbuildings at Jiangnan. The deal was for two vessels plus options for two additional ships.
Pacific Gas was to order the VLECs with backing from long-term charters of at least 10 years to UK chemicals giant Ineos.
Registered in Hong Kong, Pacific Gas is a subsidiary of Shandong Energy, a unit under China’s third-largest shipping company Shandong Shipping.
Pacific Gas specialises in VLGC shipping, supply chain management and the storage facilities business. The company owns 15 gas carriers — eight VLGCs, five ethylene carriers of between 17,000 cbm and 22,000 cbm, and two VLECs.
Jiangnan is the oldest shipyard in China. The shipbuilder was the country’s first yard to break into the gas carrier sector, winning an order from a Chinese company to build a 3,000-cbm pressurised LPG carriers in the late 1980s.
Although gas carriers are Jiangnan’s forte, it also builds large container ships and pure car/truck carriers.
