Domestic shipbuilders chart new course with LNG carriers
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The burgeoning demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in China has opened a new window for domestic shipbuilders, who are now charting plans to build more LNG carriers to transport the fuel.
The demand surge has been necessitated as winter power demand has already sapped much of the existing LNG supplies.
Leading gas supplier PetroChina had in late November said it would import an extra of 10 normal-sized spot cargos, equivalent to about 540,000 tons of LNG in the coming months to tide over the shortfall.
Statistics from Customs show that China imported 4.39 million tons of LNG in the first 10 months of 2009. It imported 3.34 million tons and 2.91 million tons respectively in 2008 and 2007.
China would need about 38 LNG carriers by 2010 and more than 65 by 2015 to transport gas, Cao Yousheng, director of China Shipbuilding Economic Research Center, told Caijing Magazine recently.
LNG carriers differ from conventional storage tanks, as they need to store fuel at temperatures as low as
-162 C, and are mostly powered by steam turbines, according to an unnamed senior engineer with Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co Ltd.
Shanghai-based shipbuilder Hudong-Zhonghua is the first Chinese company that is piloting the building of an LNG carrier.
"We have just finished the last vessel in the first lot of five orders that we got," said Jiang Minda, deputy secretary general with Hudong-Zhonghua. Each LNG carrier would have a storage capacity of 147,000 metric meters. Prior to this, only South Korea, Japan and a few countries in the Europe and North America are capable of building such ships.
"By diversifying into LNG carriers, Hudong-Zhonghua has greatly enhanced its shipbuilding techniques. It has also helped us to gain an edge over rivals especially during the economic downturn," said Jiang.
The five vessels have been built for China LNG Shipping (Holdings) Co, a joint venture of China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co, China Merchants Group and China National Offshore Oil Corp. The first set of LNG carriers would be used at the receiving terminals in Guangdong and Fujian.
Encouraged by the success of the Chinese firm, more domestic shipbuilders are now looking at moving into LNG carriers. A shipbuilder in Dalian has already started research on a project, while a Jiangsu-based shipbuilding company is also likely to enter the market soon, said the senior engineer.
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