NYK cites 'stable profits' in fleet expansion set to hit 130 LNG carriers 

NYK Group has said its ongoing fleet investments will see its LNG carrier (LNGC) fleet of vessels hit 130 by the company’s 2028 fiscal year. 

The line cited the investments among its medium- to long-term growth initiatives and said that it expected ’stable profits’ over the course of the next fiscal year from a slew of deliveries of LNG vessels.

In its public fleet figures from late 2024, NYK listed its LNG carrier fleet as being composed of 78 owned vessels and 13 chartered vessels, for a total of 91 LNGCs operating under its energy transport business.

In September 2025, NYK Line, Japan’s largest shipping company, said it would expand its LNG carriers fleet by about 50% by early 2029, increasing the total number of vessels to more than 130 including ships owned and operated by the group.

The commitment to hit 130 vessels by FY2028 was published in NYK’s financial results from Q2 2025 and economic forecast for the whole of the 2025 fiscal year.

NYK took delivery of LNG carrier Elisa Halcyon, for charterer EDF, in October 2025 from Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries in Korea. The 174,000-m³ vessel will be chartered on a long-term basis of up to 20 years to EDF LNG Shipping for LNG transportation under the ship management of Gazocean, according to NYK. 

According to shipbuilding data provider BRL, a consortium of Japanese, Malaysian and Chinese shippers took delivery of another pair of 174,000-m³ vessel in October, Idd Al Shargi and Mihzem, from Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard in China. The vessels are destined for QatarEnergy’s operations as part of the state-owned energy company’s massive shipbuilding programme. The vessels were the fifth and sixth vessels built for the consortium of shipowners that has promised to deliver a total of 12 LNG carriers to the Qataris.