Japanese shipping company K Line is entering into five long term charters for LNG carrier newbuildings with QatarEnergy through a series of joint venture companies. These joint ventures have in turn placed contracts for five 174,000m3 LNG carriers with the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding yard in China. K Line had already concluded seven long term time charter contracts with QatarEnergy in August this year and so these latest orders take the total number of LNG carriers on order to 12.
QatarEnergy is one of the world’s largest LNG producers and will allocate the newbuilding vessels to transport LNG around the world. The latest LNG carriers will be equipped with X-DF 2.1 iCER dual fuel main engines which will contribute to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impact through lower fuel consumption.
Delivery of the five 299m long newbuildings is expected to take place in 2025 and 2026. Each will be capable of a service speed of 19.5 knots.
