Malaysia’s MISC Berhad kicked off its LNG carrier partnership with ExxonMobil’s SeaRiver Maritime on Tuesday with the delivery of the 174,000-cbm sister ships Seri Damai and Seri Daya from Samsung Heavy Industries.

The pair, which are touted as being the most energy efficient vessels of their type, were ordered against 15-year time charters to the US energy giant’s wholly-owned shipping subsidiary.

They are being managed by MISC’s ship-management arm, Eaglestar.

In 2019, ExxonMobil chose MISC as its preferred shipowner to take on the first two ships in a series of LNG carrier newbuildings it was planning to order and charter back.

Kuala Lumpur-based MISC — one of the world’s largest single owner-operators of LNG carriers — described the partnership then as a “landmark moment” in its quest to globally grow its gas shipping activities beyond that of Petronas, its majority shareholder.

Captain Rajalingam Subramaniam, MISC’s president and group chief executive officer, said on Tuesday: “The delivery of Seri Damai and Seri Daya today, marks a strong start to the year and a significant milestone in MISC’s partnership with SeaRiver Maritime.

“I would like to thank our valued charterer, SeaRiver Maritime, for their trust and confidence in our capabilities.”

Captain Rajalingam Subramaniam, president and group chief executive at MISC. Photo: MISC Berhad

“My appreciation goes out to our shipbuilder, Samsung Heavy Industries, in-house project management team from Eaglestar, Gas Assets & Solutions (GAS) business team, class society ABS, and all partners and collaborators involved in the safe construction of these state-of- the-art LNG carriers.

“To our marine professionals serving onboard these vessels, Bon Voyage — fair winds and following seas always.”

MISC said the Seri Damai and Seri Daya feature advanced technology to cater to the growing needs for safe, reliable and energy-efficient solutions in the transportation of LNG.

The ships have enhanced cargo tank insulation with the GTT Mark-III Flex PLUS cargo containment system, which reduces the boil-off rate to 0.07% of cargo volume per day for improved efficiency.

Both have been equipped with WinGD X-DF propulsion systems that fulfil the IMO’s Tier-III emission requirements without the need for any external exhaust gas after-treatment system.

The vessels also comply with the Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) standard and are also certified with ENVIRO Notation, a voluntary adoption of integrating ABS requirements with international conventions for environmental protection.

These include, principally, the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention (BWM Convention) and the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships.

Described as being at the forefront of digital and smart shipping technology, the Seri Damai and Seri Daya use Samsung SVESSEL technology for enhanced safety and efficiency through remote monitoring of vessel performance and operations.

“This is a step forward in supporting a net-zero future as we add modern, energy-efficient LNG carriers to support ExxonMobil’s growing LNG business,” SeaRiver president and chief executive Andre Kostelnik said.

The delivery of the two ships gives a fleet of 31 LNG carriers, in addition to six very large ethane carriers (VLECs) and two LNG floating storage units (FSUs), that have a combined capacity of more than 2m dwt.