GasLog to grow LNGC fleet by 20% over next two years

The first steel has been cut for a new 180,000-m³ LNG carrier for GasLog Ltd at South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI). The newbuild LNG carrier, SN 2311, will be delivered in 2021, according to a post by GasLog on social media.

All of the vessels are being built with WinGD X-DF low-pressure, two-stroke main engines and will be delivered in 2020 and 2021.

GasLog Ltd has signed an export credit facility-backed debt financing of US$1.05Bn with 12 international banks for its current newbuilding programme, which will cover the balance due to the shipyard on delivery of the vessels. All seven newbuilds will deliver into firm long-term charters. Four of the newbuilds will be chartered to Cheniere, two to Centrica and one to Jera.

Overall, GasLog’s consolidated fleet consists of 35 LNG carriers. Of these vessels, 19 (12 on the water and seven on order) are owned by GasLog, one has been sold to a subsidiary of Mitsui Co and leased back by GasLog under a long-term bareboat charter and the remaining 15 LNG carriers are owned by the company’s subsidiary, GasLog Partners.

Meanwhile, SHI clinched a contract in October with Malaysia’s MISC Bhd to build two 174,000-m³ LNG carriers, which will be chartered by the ExxonMobil subsidiary to transport its global LNG production for 15 years.

As of October, SHI had won contracts to build 37 vessels valued at $5.4Bn, meeting 69% of its annual target of $7.8Bn.

MISC Bhd’s two LNG carriers will be built with a reliquefaction system applied to GTT’s Mark III Flex PLUS membrane cargo containment technology to reduce boil-off gas. Equipped with WinGD X-DF dual-fuel engines, the vessels will have selective catalytic reduction technology and ballast water treatment systems to meet IMO environmental regulations.

Furthermore, SVESSEL, a smart ship solution independently developed by Samsung, will be installed enabling the ships to reduce fuel consumption through route optimisation.