Nissen Kaiun of Japan is further expanding its presence in the LPG business with an order for its first LPG-fuelled VLGC newbuildings worth close to $165m.
Shipbuilding sources identified Nissen as the owner behind an order for two 86,000-cbm gas carriers that Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE) disclosed on 8 July.
They added that the order for dual-fuelled VLGC ships was a the first for Nissen.
KSOE officials declined to comment, citing contract confidentiality, while a Nissen executive said he had not been informed of the deal.
KSOE subsidiary Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries will build the pair, and is scheduled to deliver them in June and September 2023.
The price for the dual-fuel gas carriers, which will be able to run on LPG or conventional fuels, was reported to be $82.5m each.
Shipbuilding sources said Nissen ordered the duo against long-term charter contracts of at least 10 years.
Connecticut-based Dorian LPG is said to have fixed one vessel and Japan’s Eneos Ocean — the former JX Ocean — the other. However, charter rates were not disclosed.
Dorian LPG declined to comment when contacted, while Eneos was not available for comment.
One gas player described Nissen as a relative newcomer to the VLGC business. It made its debut in 2013 via secondhand vessel acquisitions. A year later, it signed up for two newbuildings at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries against charters.
Nissen is said to have nine VLGCs trading, and the fleet will swell to 12 as it is due to take delivery of three newbuildings in the coming months.
Two are being built at Hyundai Heavy Industries and one at Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI). They will be scrubber-fitted and powered by conventional marine fuels.
The two VLGCs at HHI — to be named White Cliffs and Red Admiral — have been chartered out to US energy giant Chevron, while the KHI ship is employed by South Korean LPG importer E1.
The details of the charter contracts are unknown, but both companies are said to have taken the gas carriers on long-term deals.
According to Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network database, Nissen has a diversified fleet of 154 trading vessels. It also has 13 newbuildings booked at shipyards in the Far East.
Nissen which is headquartered on Hakata Island on the outskirts of Imabari in Japan and led by Katsuyo Abe, is said to have close ties with Mitsui & Co — and most of its newbuildings were arranged through the trading house.
Nissen is also the joint owner of Lepta Shipping with Mitsui & Co and Global United Shipping with Singapore’s Synergy Maritime.
Last month, Lepta was reported to have doubled its containership orderbook to 10 by exercising options at Singapore-listed Yangzijiang Shipbuilding. It has ordered the 3,500-teu feeder boxships on the back of long-term charters of up to 15 years from AP Moller-Maersk.
