Celsius Shipping has been named as the company behind an LNG carrier order netted by Samsung Heavy Industries at the end of July.

The single newbuilding will boost the Celsius fleet in this sector to eight ships.

Brokers said Celsius exercised an option for a vessel following the three LNG carriers it recently confirmed at the yard.

On 27 July, SHI said it had won an order for one LNG carrier priced at KRW 223.6bn ($195.1m) from an unnamed shipping company.

The yard said the vessel will be delivered by April 2024.

Celsius has been contacted about this order.

Growing on gas

TradeWinds reported in early July that Celsius had been linked to an order for three 180,000-cbm LNG carrier newbuildings priced at about $193m each at SHI.

The vessels are to be fitted with MAN Energy Solutions' new low-pressure, two-stroke gas engine ME-GA propulsion systems.

At the time, newbuilding sources said the order details had been agreed in May. The price is well below the $210m quoted for LNG carriers from South Korean yards today. The optional vessel appears to be marginally more expensive.

Brokers said the shipowner had managed to step into the berths vacated by Sinokor Merchant Marine on three LNG carriers.

Celsius Shipping is led by chairman Jeppe Jensen. Photo: Celsius Shipping

If confirmed, these four newbuildings will double Celsius’ LNG fleet to eight ships.

The Danish shipowner already has three 180,000-cbm LNG vessels on the water, with the sistership newbuilding Celsius Carolina now scheduled for handover in August.

The first of these was fixed to Gunvor in August 2020 on period hire of 12 to 14 months at a rate of around $60,000 per day. The remaining three have been chartered by US producer Cheniere Energy for what Celsius said are periods of up to 13.5 years.

This recent order at SHI brings the yard’s tally of LNG carrier orders for the year to seven.

SHI has already reached 74% of its $9.1bn order target for 2021 with contracts for 52 ships in total worth $6.7bn. Aside from LNG carriers, the yard added 38 containerships and seven crude oil carriers.

Steel price rises

The orders have helped SHI slim its second-quarter net loss to KRW 447.4bn from KRW 704.3bn in the same period a year earlier.

Operating losses for the period were also lower at KRW 437.9bn, from KRW 707.7bn in the second quarter of 2020.

The yard said these losses were largely due to allowance for an expected construction loss of KRW 372bn caused by anticipated steel plate price rises in the second half of this year.

Sales rose 1.4% to KRW 1.7trn.

The shipbuilder’s new debt fell to KRW 2.8trn in the second quarter, down from KRW 3.4trn in the same period last year on the back of advance payments for LNG carriers and boxships, the yard said.

SHI said its board of directors has decided to set up an environmental, social and governance committee.