Tokyo: In a dramatic shift in how it goes about ordering ships, Japanese shipping major Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) is teaming up with European firms for LNG business.
A UK subsidiary of K Line has formed an LNG shipowning company with Greek owner Chandris and DVB Bank, Japanese site MarineNet reports. Rather than the traditional long-term charters the new firm is looking at medium length charters.
The joint venture has ordered one firm plus one option 173,400 cu m LNG carrier at South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.
The ship, which will deliver in 2018, will go on charter to BP for 13 years moving cargoes from Freeport LNG.
The venture marks Chandris’s entrance into LNG transportation as well as a departure for how K Line typically sources capital for ship expenditure, which most of the time is entirely from Japan.