Chinese shipbuilders win over 30 pct of global LNG carrier orders in 2022

Chinese shipbuilders received 55 orders for liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers in 2022, accounting for more than 30 percent of the world’s total, a record high for the country.

LNG carriers are a type of high-end ship equipped with tanks that ensure the gas is kept in a liquid state at minus 160 degrees Celsius. Building LNG tankers is considered a very complicated undertaking due to the high technological requirements, the difficulties involved in construction and added value.

The world's largest LNG bunker vessel, “Hai Yang Shi You 301,” fills LNG for the dual-fuel container ship of CMA CGM CONCORDE at Yantian Port in Shenzhen city, south China’s Guangdong Province, Jan. 18, 2023. (People’s Daily Overseas Edition/Cheng Yuanzhou)

“This achievement broke the monopoly of shipbuilders in some countries in building LNG carriers,” said Li Yanqing, secretary-general of the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI).

Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China’s largest shipbuilding company China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited (CSSC), delivered the first homegrown large LNG carrier in 2008. So far, Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding has received about 50 LNG carrier orders, with production scheduled to continue until 2028.

Chinese shipbuilders have embraced the surging LNG carrier market with solid moves, making impressive progress while gradually narrowing the gap with their global counterparts, said Song Wei, chief engineer at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding.

Since the beginning of 2022, demand for LNG carriers has soared in the global market, and the emerging shipbuilding market has seen a surge in LNG carrier orders, which has provided opportunities for eligible Chinese shipbuilders to enter the LNG carrier construction market, Li said.

A worker is busy working on a large LNG carrier at the workshop of Samsung Heavy Industries (Rongcheng) Co., Ltd. in Rongcheng city, east China’s Shandong Province, Jan. 30, 2023. (Photo/Li Xinjun)

In March 2022, Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) Co., Ltd. and Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd., which are subsidiaries of CSSC, received their respective first orders to build large LNG carriers. In October 2022, Chinese shipyard Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group Ltd. got its first large LNG carrier order. China Merchants Industry Holdings Co., Ltd. won orders for eight 180,000-cubic-meter LNG carriers in December 2022.

Chinese shipbuilders have become important participants in the field of global energy transportation, Li said.

Li added that the development of the LNG carrier sector is inseparable from China’s energy security. In addition, the continuous development of the LNG carrier sector contributes to adjusting the local energy structure and solving the problem of unbalanced energy demand and supply against the backdrop of China aiming to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

Chinese shipbuilders are making intensive efforts to ensure the successful construction of LNG carriers.

A 205,000-cubic-meter LNG carrier berths at the LNG terminal of China National Petroleum Corporation in Rudong county, east China’s Jiangsu Province. (Photo/Xu Congjun)

Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding aims to start the construction of nine large LNG carriers and deliver four this year. The shipyard’s new invar manufacturing workshop, an important project that will enhance its capability in the LNG carrier industry, broke ground on Jan. 8, 2023, said an executive of the shipyard, adding that the workshop is scheduled to complete commissioning and acceptance in July this year.

After the workshop is put into operation, Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding will further consolidate the foundation for doubling its production capacity of LNG carriers, the executive noted.