Publishers of shipping dictionaries have a couple of new words to add to the ever-expanding jargon of ship types.
LNT Maritime has received approval in principle from China Classification Society (CCS) for two new medium-sized LNG ship designs that can trade up to two cities along the Yangtze, China’s longest river. The new designs are the Wuhumax with an 8 m draught and a 40,000 cu m capacity and the Wuhanmax with a 5.9 m draught and a 28,500 cu m capacity. Both ships feature the company’s new LNG containment system, LNT A-Box and both have 24 m air draught.
“China Yangtze River will be the next wave of LNG shipping due to Chinese government’s Yangtze River green-up policy!” LNT Maritime’s chairman David Wu wrote on LinkedIn.
Wuhu is a city with around 4m inhabitants 60 km up river from Nanjing while Wuhan, a major manufacturing city with 11m citizens, sits at the centre of the 6,380 km long river in the heart of China.
The shallow draught ships are also likely to prove popular in countries such as India and Bangladesh where LNG demand is also soaring and pressure is building on gas distribution systems.
Speaking with Splash today, Wu said ship orders were imminent. “We are working towards to Q2 to place the order and steel-cutting should be six months later after signing the newbuilding contract,” Wu said.
