South Korean shipbuilder awarded US$317M contract to build two ethane carriers for undisclosed Asian owner
Owners continue to show a strong appetite for ethane carrier newbuilds, with the latest order placed by an undisclosed Asian owner at South Korea’s HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE). According to an exchange filing, the value of the two-ship contract was Krw459Bn (US$317M), with delivery by December 2028.
With this latest contract, HD KSOE has received orders for 21 ships worth US$3.6Bn this year, achieving 20% of the annual order target of US$18.0Bn. Orders received in 2025 include two tankers, four LNG bunkering vessels, one /ammonia carrier, 12 container ships, and two ethane carriers.
This follows Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL)’s announcement in January detailing MOL Energia’s long-term charter agreement for three very large ethane carriers (VLECs) with SCG Chemicals, a wholly owned subsidiary of Thailand’s Siam Cement Group.
The three newbuild 100,000-m3 VLECs will be constructed at the Geoje shipyard of South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries, with delivery earmarked for 2027. MOL reports the VLECs will be equipped with dual-fuel ethane propulsion engines, which will reduce greenhouse gas, sulphur oxide, and nitrogen oxide emissions compared with conventional vessels that operate on HFO.
The VLECs will have an overall length of 230 m, beam of 37 m and draught of 12 m, with GTT Mark III membrane containment systems, which will allow the VLECs to trade various types of liquefied gases such as ethane, ethylene, propane, butane, LPG and propylene.
As a result of this contract, the MOL group will manage and operate 12 out of the approximately 90 VLECs in the global fleet that have been delivered or are on order.
