Japanese MOL Delivers Second LNG Carrier to Sinopec

Japanese Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) announced January 10 that the LNG carrier CESI Qingdao – ordered by a joint venture of MOL, China COSCO Shipping Corporation and China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) – was delivered at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) January 6.

CESI Qingdao naming and delivery ceremony (Credit: MOL)

The CESI Qingdao is the second vessel to serve the China FOB Transportation Project announced in April 2013, and will sail under a long-term charter to transport LNG that Sinopec purchases from the Australia Pacific LNG project. The vessel has a cargo tank capacity of 174,100m³ and membrane type LNG tank. MOL will have 20% ownership while China Energy Shipping Investment the rest 80%.

A total of six LNG carriers will be built at Hudong for the project, MOL said. The first vessel, the CESI Gladstone, was delivered at the end of October, 2016. The remaining four will be delivered in succession by 2018.

Shardul Sharma