LNG

Cosco Shipping is expanding its exposure on LNG-capable tonnage with an order for 87 new vessels from several yards affiliated with China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC). The order, valued at more than RMB 50 billion (about US$7 billion), covers container ships, bulk carriers, tankers and car carriers scheduled to be delivered through to 2030.

Dec 8 (LNGJ) - French LNG maritime storage tank designer GTT has signed a “strategic cooperation agreement” with China State Shipbuilding Corp. (CSSC), the leading Chinese shipbuilding group.

   The accord was signed at the Marintec China international trade fair in Shanghai. “The agreement provides for cooperation between GTT and 12 subsidiaries of the CSSC conglomerate, notably in ship design and construction, cryogenic containment technologies for LNG shipping, LNG as fuel and smart shipping1 solutions,” said GTT. Among the CSSC subsidiaries are Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, the Jiangnan Shipyard, Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co. and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding.

European maritime classification society DNV has established a Future Ship Joint Innovation Centre in Shanghai in partnership with China State Shipbuilding Corp. (CSSC), the world’s leading shipbuilding group.

DNV and CSSC said the facility would allow both companies to cooperate on ship and offshore field technical innovation and to advance digitalization while providing technical support and general solutions for the maritime industry.

The new Innovation Centre was formally opened by CSSC Vice President Sheng Jigang and DNV Maritime Chief Executive Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen.

The CSSC yards include China’s leading LNG carrier builder Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding of Shanghai.

Its current orders include building six LNG carriers for a partnership including Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines and China’s Cosco Shipping to be delivered in 2025.

DNV joint operator

DNV will operate the Innovation Centre with the Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute (SDARI) and the cooperation accord was signed by SDARI’s President Lv Zhiyong and DNV’s Senior Vice President and Regional Manager Norbert Kray.

The Centre will set up three joint work groups on reducing carbon-dioxide and promoting digital and smart shipping.

“The establishment of this Centre is an important step for a deepened strategic cooperation between CSSC and DNV, China and Europe,” stated CSSC VP Sheng.

“Additionally, the mutual trust and advantages gained will pave the way for an in-depth technical exchange between SDARI and DNV China, accelerating research on green and intelligent shipping technology towards a global maritime transformation,” Sheng added.

DNV Maritime’s CEO Ørbeck-Nilssen said it was a great honour cooperate with CSSC and SDARI to establish the Centre.

Support

“DNV will support the Centre with its full global expertise. Together we will work to ensure it will become a model for the maritime industry’s proactive response to decarbonization and digital transformation,” Ørbeck-Nilssen declared.

Others who attended the ceremony included CSSC’s Assistant President and Director General of Technology Division Xu Miao, SDARI’s Vice President Li Lu and DNV’s Senior Vice President and Reginal Strategic Business Development Director James Huang,.

Also in attendance were DNV's Vice President and Regional Customer Relations Director Hou Juzhen, Vice President and Head of Technical Centre China Øyvind Pettersen and members from the new Centre and its working groups.

Gaztransport and Technigaz (GTT), the French LNG storage technology company for shipping and onshore, said the Supreme Court of Korea rejected GTT's appeal on licence and technical assistance deals with South Korean shipyards.

The Paris-based company had appealed against the decision of the Seoul High Court confirming the company's obligation to separate, in whole or in part, the “Technology License and the Technical Assistance” agreements if requested by the South Korean shipyards it has dealings with.

GTT had filed its appeal against the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) decision in December 2022.

“GTT acknowledges this very surprising decision, which comes only three months after the decision of the same Supreme Court of Korea to suspend the effects of the decision of the Seoul High Court,” said GTT.

The French company said it considered that its provision of technical assistance and engineering services “were essential to ensure the safety and performance” of its solutions and that its “unique expertise” was crucial to the safety of LNG maritime transport.

Defending interests

“Convinced of the sound basis of its contractual provisions, GTT is still committed to defending its interests and those of the entire LNG industry, and is considering the most appropriate actions to be taken in order to maintain its rights,” stated the Paris-based company.

“The company does not anticipate any significant financial impact in the short or medium term,” it added.

The KFTC in December 2022 had ordered GTT to allow the Korean shipyards, upon their request, to perform all or part of the technical assistance services currently included in the technology licenses and to pay €9.5 million ($10.40M) as an administrative fine.

The loss of the Korea appeal comes as GTT continues to expand its relationships with Chinese companies and shipyards where it has similar accords and is building the LNG tanks storage technology business.

On the occasion of the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron’s to Beijing on April 6, 2023, PipeChina Engineering Technology Innovation Co. signed a cooperation agreement for the evaluation and further promotion of GTT’s membrane containment tank technology for LNG projects in China.

PipeChina Group is currently operating seven LNG receiving terminals in China and three new LNG import projects are under construction.

As the largest operator of LNG infrastructure in China, PipeChina said it was keen to expand its cooperation with GTT.

Adnan Ezzarhouni, General Manager of GTT China, explained that GTT had already delivered onshore tanks to the Chinese.

These were for a peak-shaving project at Hejian in Hebei province, operated by Huagang Gas, as well as Phase I of the giant Beijing Gas Tianjin-Nangang onshore LNG terminal and the company was seeking additional contracts.

GTT has major collaborations with major Chinese shipyards such as Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp., and Jiangnan Shipbuilding located northeast of Shanghai on Changxing Island at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

April 13 (LNGJ) - QatarEnergy signed a series of time-charter parties with a subsidiary of Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) for the long-term charter and operation of four LNG carriers, constituting the first batch of TCPs awarded under QatarEnergy’s huge LNG shipping-building programme.

   “Concurrent with the signing of the TCPs, back-to-back LNG carrier shipbuilding contracts were signed between MOL and Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp., for the construction of four new LNG carriers to serve Qatar’s LNG growth projects and future fleet requirements,” said the Doha-based company.

China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, an affiliate of China State Shipbuilding Corp. (CSSC), has won a contract from Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) to build six LNG carriers.

China’s Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co. (DSIC) said the world’s first LNG-powered very large crude carrier, the “Yuan Rui Yang”, would soon be ready to hand over to Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation after completing its gas trials following successful sea trials and LNG bunkering during the fourth quarter.

QatarEnergy has placed the first batch of LNG shipbuilding orders with South Korean shipyards consisting of four vessels from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and two vessels from Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), as part of QatarEnergy’s shipbuilding program to serve future expansion plans.

Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation, the Chinese shipping line with more than 30 liquefied natural gas carriers in it fleet, said it approved a plan to order three more LNG carriers.

European classification society DNV GL entered into a joint development project with Chinese Huangpu-Wenchong Shipbuilding Co. for LNG dual-fuel containership.