More Chinese shipbuilders are moving into the LNG carrier construction arena, with China Merchants Heavy Industry Jiangsu (CMHI Jiangsu) sealing a technical assistance and license agreement with French membrane containment system designer GTT.
The deal will allow the subsidiary of China Merchants Industry Holdings, and one of the three leading shipbuilding groups in China, to build large-capacity LNG carriers using GTT membrane technologies.
GTT and China Merchant Industry Holdings have been cooperating for a decade, with a first technical service agreement signed in 2013 for the maintenance and repair of LNG carriers, which also led to a cooperation agreement in 2016 for the evaluation of CMHI to implement GTT technologies.
“We expect the new stage of this partnership to be a real success both in the LNG carrier construction and in the LNG fuelled market as the shipyard is renowned for its variety of vessels constructions,” said Philippe Berterottière, chairman and CEO of GTT.
Simple Hu, general manager of China Merchants Industry Holdings, added: We are already acquainted with GTT’s technologies and we are determined to consolidate our shipbuilding experience with these technologies for large LNG carrier, FSU, FSRU, FLNG, VLEC, as well as LNG fuelled merchant vessels. We aim to further deepen our collaboration with GTT with our other shipyards as well.”
The news follows several other Chinese yards entering the space currently dominated by Korean shipbuilders. Joining the country’s top LNG carrier builder, Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, privately-owned Yangzijiang Shipbuilding recently landed a deal with GTT, paving the way for its entry into the LNG carrier sector. Jiangnan Shipyard and Dalian Shipbuilding Industries Co also secured debut large LNG carrier orders this year for five and two ships, respectively.
