The signing ceremony of Strategic Cooperation Agreement between Nantong Mingde Heavy Industry Group and US Cambridge Energy Group was held in Nantong Prince Hotel on July 23rd 2012. LNG Carrier, which is internationally recognized as a high-tech, sophisticated and high value-added product, has been imaged as one of the two “Pearls on the Crown” in the shipbuilding industry.
The two parties will be dedicated to cooperating and developing in the field of both construction and logistics of LNG Carriers. This is another new challenge to Mingde in high-end ships after PCTC, Stainless Steel Chemical Tankers and Offshore platform supply vessels.
According to the Strategic Cooperation Agreement, both parties will make concerted efforts to develop and construct 5+4 of 140,000 m3 LNG Carriers, 10-12 of 20,000m3 to 40,000 m3 LNG Carriers and 2 FLNGs which has annual output of two million metric tonnes each.
Now only 13 shipyards in U.S., China, Japan, Korea and Europe can build this kind of vessel. So far, only one shipyard in China has built this kind of ship, so building of LNG carriers in China is still at an initial stage. Although the first LNG Carrier has been built in China, the independent design and construction abilities are still far from mature. The cooperation between the parties will be of great significance for Chinese shipbuilding industry to achieve a breakthrough in high-tech area.
“ This is a new breakthrough and challenge for Mingde Heavy Industry and we look forward to branding more ‘Chinese mark’ on world’s ship newbuilding of “Pearls on the Crown “, Ji Fenghua, the chairman of Mingde said, “ For this LNG Carriers project, we have recruited experts on LNG Carriers in China and created a R&D team. We will carry out extensive cooperation with Cambridge Energy in technical area and trust that we could benefit a lot in core technology for LNG Carriers.”
Cambridge Energy Group is a publicly listed company dedicated to developing and utilizing of energy for LNG Carriers. After visit to Nantong Mingde Heavy Industry Stock Co.,Ltd., Sherman.Bryant, CEO of US Cambridge Energy Corporation, believed that the management team of Mingde is full of passion. Besides, the standardization of management, high-tech products and excellent quality of Mingde has convinced Mr Bryant of its qualification to enter into further cooperation in LNG projects.
[mappress] Source: Nantong Mingde, July 27, 2012