Technology group Wärtsilä has signed a 15-year lifecycle agreement covering three dual-fuel LNG carriers operated by China LNG Shipping (International) Co. Ltd. (CLSICO).

The agreement, which came into effect in August and was booked by Wärtsilä in Q3 2025, is designed to ensure operational reliability and enable flexibility in maintenance scheduling for the vessels while optimising time between overhauls.

The three vessels covered by the agreement are the 'Al Tuwar', the 'Al Mas'Habiyyah', and the 'Fat'H Al Khair'. Each vessel is approximately 300 metres in length with a capacity of 174,000 cbm and operates with two 8-cylinder and two 6-cylinder Wärtsilä 34DF dual-fuel engines.

"With the LNG ship transportation industry chain entering a period of rapid development, we are committed to operating our LNG ships safely, reliably and efficiently. Wärtsilä's Lifecycle Agreements play an important role here, ensuring we continue to optimise the operations and maintenance of our vessels more effectively," said Andrew Johnston, General Manager at CLSICO.

Under the agreement, CLSICO will utilise engine data through Expert Insight, Wärtsilä's predictive maintenance solution. The digital platform offers Dynamic Maintenance Planning to optimise maintenance costs and provides 24/7 remote support for issue resolution and improved asset availability. The system can predict potential problems before they occur, according to Wärtsilä.

Henrik Wilhelms, Director of Agreement Sales at Wärtsilä Marine, commented: "In today's complex marine market, leveraging service agreements, digital tools and real-time data and analytics can maximise the lifecycle uptime and OPEX of a vessel — helping fleets to run optimally, stay competitive and comply with current and future decarbonisation targets."

The new agreement follows a previous Wärtsilä lifecycle agreement signed with CLSICO in 2023 covering the 'Dapeng Princess', which the company describes as the world's largest shallow draft LNG carrier.

Wärtsilä cited increasing LNG consumption and demand as factors putting greater pressure on LNG carriers to deliver on tight schedules, making operational reliability more critical for the sector.