Yard Builds 3 LNG Ships to Tap Demand

Source: Xinhua

China State Shipbuilding Co, the nation's biggest shipyard, launched three self-developed liquefied natural gas vessels yesterday.

The yard built the three LNG vessels, with a capacity of 160,000 cubic meters, 175,000 cubic meters, and 220,000 cubic meters, respectively, to meet the increasing shipping demand as the world's economy embarks on its track to recovery, CSSC said in a press release yesterday.

The LNG vessel, often dubbed as the "maritime super freezer," is regarded as a high-tech product with high-added value since natural gas can only be transformed into liquefied form after the temperature drops below minus 163 degrees Celsius.

The yard had delivered five LNG vessels by December last year since it started researching LNG designing and manufacturing technologies in 1997. The country's first LNG ship sailed off in December 2005.

CSSC had a global market share of 9.1 percent in 2009, making it the world's second-largest shipbuilder in terms of deadweight tonnage after South Korea-based Hyundai Heavy Industries, Tan Zuojun, the company's general manager, said in an interview with Xinhua in January.

China is one of the few nations to harness LNG making technology.

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Editor: Shanna Chu