COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (CHI) signed a technical service agreement (TSA) with the French LNG containment specialist GTT, to carry out LNG carrier repairs.
The TSA follows a strategic cooperation agreement CHI signed with GTT during last year, the company said in its statement.
It further noted that the TSA marks the company’s entry into LNG carriers’ repair & conversion field, which proves the shipyard’s capability of undertaking the repairs and conversion of a membrane type LNG carrier.
In July, GTT had worked together with CHI Guangdong shipyard on a Mark III type LNG carrier LNG Lucia Ambition, CHI said.
The project was the first LNG carrier that a Chinese shipyard has ever done with intensive membrane type cargo tank repairs.
LNG carriers’ repair & conversion business is one of the direction for CHI to focus on in future, the company said adding that it is currently talking with major LNG shipping companies about the future potential cooperation.