South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Monday it won a $100 million order to build two liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers for Korea Line to deliver gas supplies from mainland to southernmost island of Jeju.

Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) has chartered Korea Line to transport LNG from Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province to Jeju Island for 20 years.

Under the latest deal, Samsung Heavy Industries will build two LNG carriers with capabilities of carrying 7,500 cubic meters of LNG and featuring the Korean Cargo (KC-1) containment system designed by KOGAS together with local shipbuilding majors Samsung Heavy Industries, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co.

One of the two vessels would have LNG bunkering capability. Ships will each be delivered by May and December 2019.

The shipyard would be building expertise in the home-grown containment system, small-scale LNG carriers and LNG bunkering vessels through the order, it said.

Rising demand in LNG in China and Southeast Asia will boost demand for small-scale LNG carriers, according to a company official. U.K-based industry monitor Clarkson Research Services Ltd. forecast that orders for small-size LNG carrier of 40,000 square meters or under will exceed over 70 units per year over the next decade.

Samsung Heavy Industries has secured $2.3 billion worth orders so far this year including eight oil tankers, two LNG carriers, one LNG floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) and one floating production unit (FPU).

By Moon Ji-woong

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