Sinopacific Wins Three More as Ocean Yield Enters the Gas Shipping Market

It’s been a solid week for Sinopacific Shipbuilding. The Shanghai-based firm has gained five newbuild orders for new gas carriers, two from Danish shipowner Evergas and three from Norway-based Ocean Yield.

For Evergas, the company is expanding their series of 27,500 cbm LNG/Multigas carriers under construction at Sinopacific from four to six. This expansion is in support of a 15-year charter contract with INEOS which was signed in January 2014 for the transportation of ethane from the US Mariner East project to their refineries in Rafnes, Norway and Grangemouth, UK.

Capable of transporting LNG, LPG as well as petrochemical gases such as ethylene, “These vessels are the largest, most flexible and advanced multigas carriers yet to be built,” commented Martin Ackermann, CEO of EVERGAS.

The ships will also feature Wartsila dual fuel engines, an Energopac propeller/rudder system, and a number of other associated systems.

For Ocean Yield, their ships ordered today mark their company’s entry into the gas shipping sector and includes three 36,000 cbm LEG (Liquefied Ethylene Gas) at a total consideration of around USD $243 million.

The company notes that following delivery from Sinopacific in August, October and December 2016, respectively, the ships will be placed on 15-year “hell and high water” bareboat charters to the Hartmann Group of Germany, where the first ten years have a fixed charter rate and the last five years a floating charter rate.