A representative sample of Norway's shipping community took advantage of a royal visit last week to descend on China in an optimistic mood, signing contracts with local shipyards to construct vessels, and to furnish equipment and services.
But the most ambitious visitor of all may have been Hoegh LNG.
Company chief executive Sveinung Stohle told delegates at the Norway-China Business Summit that Hoegh LNG's 10 floating storage and regasification units currently on the water or under construction have a throughput capacity that would allow them to cover 70% of China's coastal import demand.
Hoegh LNG has the only FSRU in the Chinese market today, thanks to its charter of the 170,000-cbm Hoegh Esperanza (built 2018) to oil major China National Offshore Oil Corp, to be used as both a regasification unit at the Tianjin LNG terminal and a trading vessel.
China's geography and its incomplete pipeline network means that the country does not make up a single LNG-import market but is instead several regional markets. There were no announcements of further deals, but Hoegh LNG is clearly optimistic about the FSRU approach to furnishing import-regasification capacity quickly, as Beijing pushes energy companies to turn from coal to cleaner solutions.
Stohle was not impressed by the proposals to convert existing LNG carriers to FSRUs.
"With shipyard prices as they are today, there is absolutely nothing to be gained from conversion projects," he told delegates.
TradeWinds reported last week that another Norwegian visitor — Knutsen OAS Shipping owner Trygve Seglem — signed a letter of intent on behalf of Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers to build up to four 154,000-dwt shuttle tankers at Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry.
Speaking to the conference delegates, Seglem looked back over 30 years of ordering ships in China, and he said that the country’s yards have vindicated his choice.
Seglem has built 10 vessels in China and recalls that he was warned of disaster in the 1980s when he ordered his first one for $37m. He paired that initial Chinese order with an identical one in Norway for $55m. The Chinese ship was delivered before the Norwegian one, was sold in 2007 for $46m, and is still in use today as the 111,600-dwt floating production, storage and offloading unit Dynamic Producer (built 1987).
'Quality in China'
"I wish I had many disasters like that one," Seglem said. "So don't worry about getting quality in China."
Norway's King Harald V, who was visiting China with Queen Sonja, opened the day with a speech at the Shanghai International Cruise Terminal, stayed to watch the signings and then left the summit. Entitled An Ocean of Opportunities, it covered topics including seafood trade, the marine environment, LNG shipping, automated shipping technology and Arctic shipping.
Unfortunately for those who found all the topics of equal interest, they were covered in six simultaneous sessions in nearby hotels, until the delegates hurried back to the cruise terminal to enjoy Norwegian seafood with the king and queen.
