French liquefied natural gas containment systems specialist GTT has been contracted to design tanks for LNG cargo ready VLEC quartet.
The very large ethane carriers are being built on behalf of a ship-owner whose name remains confidential at this stage, GTT said in a statement on Monday.
Korean shipyards Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) will each build two VLECs.
Each of the vessels will have a cargo capacity of 98,000 cubic meters. GTT will design the tanks, which will be fitted with the Mark III membrane containment system.
The delivery of the vessels is scheduled for the second quarter of 2022.
Designed to be multi-gas units, i.e to transport ethane as well as several other types of gas, such as propylene, LPG and ethylene, the cargo tanks will benefit from the “LNG cargo ready” notation, thus offering the possibility to carry LNG in the future.
These VLECs will be second-generation ships which will optimize fuel consumption, reduce the boil-off rate and increase the cargo capacity.