Maria Angelicoussis-controlled Maran Gas Maritime has placed a KRW 679.4bn ($519m) order for two LNG carrier newbuildings at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering in South Korea.
DSME unveiled its latest LNG carrier contracts in a stock exchange announcement today.
The yard said the vessels will be delivered by mid-2027, but it did not give details of their specifications.
DSME gave additional information about the exchange rate applied for its orders, which essentially values the ships at $256.2m each.
This would appear to be the highest price paid to date for LNG carrier newbuildings of a standard 174,000-cbm size.
The order is expected to boost Maran Gas’ LNG carrier fleet to 57 vessels.
In December, TradeWinds reported that Maran Gas — a favoured customer at DSME — was sitting on two pairs of optional LNG newbuildings at the yard, one of which was due to expire at the end of 2022 and the second was for declaration in 2023.
But Maran, which traditionally does not comment on its commercial activities, did not move ahead with the 2022 orders.
Japanese shipowner Mitsui OSK Lines also had not firmed up expected single LNG carrier orders signed at DSME.
In January, brokers described the business for both owners as “temporised”.
They linked the hold up to South Korean defence and energy conglomerate Hanwha’s ongoing takeover of a controlling stake in DSME for KRW 2trn from the Korea Development Bank.
Since then, MOL firmed up two orders at DSME in February for delivery in early 2027.
DSME is targeting revenue of KRW 6.97bn in 2023.
More than 170 LNG carriers were contracted in 2022 in what was a record order total for the sector.
