South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) hosted a keel laying ceremony for a new LNG carrier for Greece-based GasLog.
As disclosed by the owner and operator of LNG carriers, the April 29 keel-laying was for the yet unnamed vessel with hull number 2274.
According to VesselsValue data, the ship is the third of four 180,000 cbm units that GasLog ordered from SHI. The company has two of each 174,000 cbm and 176,400 cbm carriers on order at the same yard.
SHI is scheduled to deliver hull number 2274 by April 2020 for a 12-year fixed-term charter with Japan’s JERA.
The Mark III Flex Plus design vessel with low pressure two stroke propulsion was ordered in March 2018 .
Separately, the company released its first quarter 2019 earnings report, in which GasLog said it delivered a revenue of USD 166.5 million and a loss of USD 10.9 million for the period, compared to USD 138.5 million of revenue and a profit of USD 19.3 million for the same quarter in 2018.
“The first quarter saw spot LNG carrier rates fall from the historic highs of the fourth quarter of 2018 as unseasonal weather conditions led to low LNG prices and disincentivized long-haul LNG trade,” Paul Wogan, Chief Executive Officer, stated.
“Nonetheless, spot vessel earnings were roughly in line with those seen in the first quarter of 2018. We are confident that the fundamentals of the LNG shipping market are tighter than the evidence that the first quarter implies, and we believe that rates will improve in the second half of the year and through 2020.”