Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) has added another dual-fuel LPG carrier newbuilding to its growing fleet.

The Idan Ofer-controlled company has exercised an option for a 40,000-cbm gas carrier at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD), bringing its orderbook there to four.

Officials at EPS and HMD declined to comment on the deal.

Shipbuilding sources said they believe the Singapore shipowner’s latest LPG newbuilding represents an option that it locked in at HMD in May when it signed up for three gas carriers there.

The South Korean yard is scheduled to deliver the vessels in the second half of 2022. They vessels are said to cost $52.5m each.

EPS’ initial order for three ships was booked against a long-term charter with Norwegian oil major Equinor.

It won a competitive tender for the contract, which will see Equinor charter the ships for five years upon delivery. The contract includes options to extend the charters.

As for the fourth newbuilding, able to run on either LPG and conventional fuels, several LPG market players are said to have shown interest in employing it.

“The vessel is being negotiated for a charter,” said a shipping player familiar with the deal.

The names of those involved is not known, but a gas expert said Total, Equinor and Indonesia’s Pertamina Shipping are keen to fix LPG-fuelled gas carrier newbuildings.

EPS has been an active player in the shipbuilding market for the past few years. It has 27 other newbuildings worth more than $2bn on order, including five newcastlemax bulkers, 10 neo-panamax containerships, four suezmax tankers, four LR2 tankers and four MRs.

Most of the ships will be fitted with dual-fuel propulsion that can run on LNG.

Last month, EPS won a five-year charter contract to provide five LNG-fuelled, 209,000-dwt newcastlemax bulker newbuildings to Australian mining giant BHP. The vessels will be built by China’s Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding and New Times Shipbuilding, with handover in the first half of 2022.

EPS took delivery of its first LNG-fuelled containership — the 14,800-teu CMA CGM Tenere (built 2020) — from Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries last month.

The vessel was reported to have cost $130m. CMA CGM is believed to be paying $55,000 per day to charter the containership for 15 years.