South Korean shipowner H-Line Shipping has finalised a charter on a single LNG carrier newbuilding with domestic steelmaker Posco International.

Posco said on Wednesday that it has signed a charter agreement with H-Line on a 174,000-cbm LNG vessel that is building a Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries.

The vessel is due for delivery in the first quarter of 2025.

Clarksons Shipping Intelligence Network records that the newbuilding was contracted in January 2022 at a price of just over $212m.

Posco said the vessel will be used to ship LNG from the US from 2026 for its domestic supply and trading arm and indicated that it plans to shift into the international LNG business.

“With the new chartered LNG vessel, POSCO International plans to bolster its LNG business from production and transportation to selling into markets,” the company said.

In May 2022 Posco signed a deal to buy 0.4 million tonnes per annum from US LNG producer Cheniere Energy over a 20-year period.

H-Line has rapidly expanded its LNG carrier business in the last two years.

The company now controls a fleet of four existing LNG carriers and has a further 11 newbuildings on order.

In 2022 it scooped charter deals with US energy major ExxonMobil and, working in partnership with Korean owners Pan Ocean and SK Shipping, also won contracts at back vessels ordered under QatarEnergy’s huge newbuilding project.