South Korean shipping firm Korea Line has signed a $307.4mn charter contract to operate two new LNG carriers (LNGCs) for at least seven years on behalf of Shell.
The deal calls for Korea Line to start hauling LNG for the Shell Tankers Singapore unit in August 2022. Shell has an option to add two more LNGCs under the agreement, in which case it will also be able to extend the charter for up to an additional 10 years.
The Korea Line vessels are among eight new LNGCs that will be built under charter agreements signed last week by Shell. At least six of those new ships, each with capacity of 174,000 m³, will be built by units of South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries. Deliveries of those carriers will begin in mid-2022, with four being deployed to European operators and two to Asia-Pacific shipping firms. Korea Line has yet to disclose which shipyard will build its two new vessels.
The batch of Shell-related orders was part of a flurry of contracts that Hyundai Heavy units landed last week, totalling 14 vessels and $1.7bn. The new ships will include eight LNGCs, one oil products carrier and five crude tankers. Three of the crude carriers are 153,000dwt shuttle tankers that will be built for Malaysia's AET Tanker Holdings, which earlier this month won a charter contract to operate such vessels for Shell in Brazil.
By Tony Cox
