Petredec Holdings (Eastern) has exercised its option for the construction of two additional 22,000 cbm ethylene carriers with Jiangnan Shipyard, bringing its newbuild tally to four units.
The contract was signed at Marintec Shanghai on December 3, 2019, during the ceremony for the merger of China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited (CSSC) and China Shipbuilding Industry Corp (CSIC) under the CSSC banner.
The first two construction contracts for this type of ship were signed and entered into force on August 21, 2019. The first two newbuilds are scheduled to be delivered in 2021, followed by the second newbuild batch in May and September 2022.
As explained by Petredec Chief Executive Giles Fearn, the order builds upon the company’s long-term relationship with Jiangnan Shipyard, which dates back to 2007. During this time the company ordered a total of 16 LPG/Ethylene vessels at the yard.
“We are also very much looking forward to the imminent delivery of four scrubber-equipped 84,000 cbm VLGC’s, three of which are due in the first week of January and one in February 2020, which coincides perfectly with the implementation of the new IMO 2020 rules,” he added.
Jiangnan Shipyard said that this type of ship entered the British Lloyd’s Register, following the design concept of “high efficiency, environmental protection and safety”. It is an optimized and upgraded version of the Lusitano series (Jiangnan 22K / 21K LEG / LPGC).
After the R & D team optimized the layout and line type matching, the cubic capacity increased by 1,000 cubic meters on the basis of the original 21,000 cubic meters ethylene carrier. This type of ship uses conventional fuel to meet EEDI2 and at the same time meet the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Tier III emission requirements and the new IGC Code standards.
Petredec moves over 10 million tonnes of LPG (liquefied propane and butane) annually on a fleet of over 60 Owned and Chartered LPG Vessels.