China Merchants Industry and an undisclosed European owner have entered into a contract for the construction of four 180,000 cu m LNG carriers plus four options.

LNG shipping is booming and shipyard capacity is extremely tight, but as new tonnage hits the water mid-decade it could outstrip liquefaction capacity growth heading to a market slump warns Maritime Strategies International (MSI).

China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES) has inked Letter of Intent for the construction of two plus four methanol dual-fuel 9,000 ceu car carriers with China Merchants Industry.

Terntank has placed orders for two plus two new 15,000 dwt MGO/Biofuel & methanol-ready chemical/product/biofuels tankers at China Merchants Jinling Shipyard.

Newbuilding orders at Chinese yards are down nearly 40% year-on-year to the end of October, and output from existing orders has also declined.

Cadeler has placed an order to build its second F-class hybrid jack-up installation vessel at Cosco Heavy Industries.

China’s logistics service provider, Zhonggu Logistics, is planning to put one boxship from seventeen newbuilds on the market each month starting from December to enlarge its container service capacity.

The specialised logistics service provider SAIC Logistics, subsidiary of China’s leading automobile manufacturer, SAIC Motor, is planning to build seven multi-fuel car carriers.

Greek shipowners are continuing to renew their fleet as more newbuilding contracts emerge. As of mid-October some 234 tankers, bulkers, containerships and gas carriers were contracted along with three pure car carriers.

MISC, NYK, K-Line and China LNG Holdings have ordered a further five LNG carrier newbuildings for long-term charters to QatarEnergy.