This landmark deal surpasses SHI's previous record set in July of the preceding year, involving the construction of sixteen methanol-powered container ships for Taiwan's Evergreen Marine, totaling $3 billion.
According to a disclosure on the stock exchange, the buyer hails from the Middle East region, and industry insiders speculate that QatarEnergy, currently engaged in an extensive newbuilding initiative at shipyards in South Korea and China, is the undisclosed shipowner.
While QatarEnergy has not officially confirmed the order, reports from mid-January suggested it had commissioned eight LNG carriers from Hudong-Zhonghua.
The state-of-the-art vessels, boasting a capacity of 174,000 cubic meters each, are slated for sequential delivery to the undisclosed shipowner by October 2028.
This substantial contract propels Samsung Heavy Industries' total orders for the current year to 17 ships, including the 15 LNG carriers and two Very Large Ammonia Carriers (VLACs). The total sales for the year, as reported in regulatory filings, amount to an impressive $4.49 billion.
In a statement, SHI expressed its commitment to a selective order-taking approach centered on profitability, stating, "As we have secured a significant amount of work with this large-scale order, our policy of selective order-taking centered on profitability will be further strengthened."
This development follows QatarEnergy's previous order in September 2023 for 17 LNG carriers from rival South Korean yard HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, valued at approximately $3.9 billion. With these successive orders, QatarEnergy's LNG carrier order book has now reached a substantial 77 vessels.
