CSSC Jiangnan Shipyard has secured a contract to construct four large LNG carriers that will be chartered to Shell on a long-term basis.

The agreement was signed on 30 January by Jiangnan Shipyard and China Shipbuilding Industry Trade Co., Ltd. and covers the construction of four LNG carriers with a capacity of 175,000 cubic metres. Deliveries are scheduled between 2028 and 2029.

Under the project structure, Minsheng Financial Leasing will act as vessel owner, while Shandong Ocean Energy will be responsible for commercial management. Technical operations will be handled by Shell International Shipping, with the vessels chartered to Shell (Singapore) Trading Co., Ltd upon delivery.

Jiangnan said the order brings together participants from the international energy sector, China’s shipping industry and high-end shipbuilding, supported by leasing finance from Minsheng Financial Leasing.

Shandong Ocean Energy, which is part of state-owned Shandong Ocean Group, has an existing relationship with the yard. Its affiliates have previously placed orders at Jiangnan for two LNG carriers of the same size and 16 very large ethane carriers.

The four vessels are based on Jiangnan Shipyard’s latest generation LNG carrier platform, which the yard says has been independently developed and refined from a previously delivered design. Optimisation work has focused on improving operational performance while reducing emissions.

According to Jiangnan, the ships will feature a large-scale twin-tail-fin hull form designed in-house to enhance hydrodynamic efficiency. Propulsion will be provided by a WinGD XDF 2.2 dual-fuel main engine incorporating iCER and VCR technologies. The design also includes LNG as the primary fuel, a low-methane-slip power generation system, an optimised shaft-driven generator and a reliquefaction plant.

The yard noted that these features are intended to reduce fuel and gas consumption while lowering carbon emissions and methane slip during operation.