Norwegian ship-owner Ocean Yield ASA has taken delivery of the 38,000 cbm liquefied ethylene gas (LEG) carrier Gaschem Beluga from China’s shipbuilder Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering.
Upon delivery, the carrier commenced a 15-year “hell and high water” bareboat charter to the German shipping company Hartmann Group.
Gaschem Beluga will enter into a 10 year sub-charter to petrochemicals manufacturer SABIC Petrochemicals B.V (SABIC) upon arrival in Houston in December.
As the first of two sister vessels to be delivered, the LEG carrier will be used for shipments of ethane from Houston to SABIC’s cracker in Teeside,UK.
The second eco-friendly LEG carrier vessel is scheduled to join its owner on July 1, 2017.
Developed by Hartmann, the vessel is of ECO STAR design, equipped with MAN B&W dual fuel 2-stroke engine and can operate on different fuels including ethane.
A new Star-Trilobe tank allows for an increase in capacity by nearly 30% compared to the traditional bilobe tanks with the same ship dimensions.
Ocean Yield ordered the batch of three LEG carriers from Sinopacific in May 2014, however, in mid-October the company said it decided to cancel the third vessel under the agreement as a result of the negotiations which were undertaken after Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering filed for receivership in August 2016.
Ocean Yield said it paid USD 16.2 million in pre-delivery instalments to the shipyard, which is secured by bank guarantees.