Maria Angelicoussis-led Maran Gas Maritime is sitting on a pair of optional LNG carrier newbuilding slots that it needs to make a decision on before the end of 2022.
Newbuilding sources said the company has two berths on hold at South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering where the Angelicoussis Group orders the bulk of its tonnage.
One implied the signs were looking positive and that Maran Gas will confirm the orders.
The company is understood to hold four LNG newbuilding options at DSME but the deadline for declaring on the second pair is in 2023.
Maran traditionally does not comment on its commercial activities.
If Maran moves ahead with two more vessels this year the orders would boost the company’s LNG carrier fleet to 57 vessels.
These comprise 45 trading ships — nine of which are operated in a joint venture with Qatar’s Nakilat and include one floating storage and regasification unit that is on charter to Excelerate Energy — and a further 12 on-order newbuildings. Nine of the under-construction vessels are being built at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and three at Samsung Heavy Industries.
Clarksons Shipping Intelligence Network database shows that the LNG carrier newbuildings were contracted at prices ranging from a little more than $186.5m for a pair of vessels ordered in May 2021 to $249.5m for the latest ships booked in November 2022.
DSME, like South Korea’s other two major LNG shipbuilders and several Chinese yards, has racked up a massive haul of LNG carrier orders this year.
According to the shipbuilder’s December investor relations presentation, the company estimates that 33% of its sales for 2022 will be for LNG carriers, with 25% being for container ships, 18% tankers, 9% LPG carriers and the balance for energy plant and naval vessels.
At the end of November, DSME said it had logged orders for 38 LNG carriers in 2022, worth some KRW 8.4 trillion ($6.4bn). This compares with nine LNG orders in 2020 and 15 in 2021.
DSME is now sitting on a backlog of 62 LNG vessels, including floating storage units, worth KRW 14.2 trillion in total.
The shipbuilder, which is due to be taken over by South Korea’s Hanwha Group in 2023, said in its presentation: “Dramatic increases in LNG imports to Europe are expected and this will lead to a strong LNG carrier market.”
DSME said it is “adopting a new strategy” of taking orders that are primarily considered for their profit margins.
LNG carrier newbuildings are among the high-margin vessel candidates targeted by experienced yards.
