NYK Orders Six LNG Carriers for Long-Term Charter to CNOOC

Japanese shipping company NYK has announced its first long-term time charters with China’s state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or CNOOC, for six newbuild LNG carriers.

NYK has also entered into shipbuilding contracts for the vessels with Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co. Ltd, with deliveries between 2026 and 2027.

The charter contract was signed with CNOOC Gas and Power Singapore Trading & Marketing Pte. NYK has also signed enlisted China Merchants Energy Shipping Co. Ltd (CMES), a Chinese shipping company, as the project head, which will jointly own and manage the vessels.

The six vessel will be engaged mainly in the transportation of LNG to China.

The LNG carriers will be equipped with a next-generation X-DF2.1 iCER dual-fuel engine that can operate on fuel oil or boil off gas stored in its cargo tank. Intelligent Control by Exhaust Gas Recycling, or iCER, can reduce methane emissions, aka methane slip, by up to 50% and fuel consumption by up to 6.0% in gas mode and 5.4% in diesel mode.

Each ship will measure 299.00 meters in length overall by 46.40 meters beam and will come with a membrane-type 174,000 cbm capacity tank that will make use of advanced insulating materials to reduce boil-off rate.