SEOUL, KOREA - Hyundai Mipo Dockyard said on May 27 that it signed on the 26th a contract to build two liquefied petroleum gas carriers worth US$102 million with Eastern Pacific Shipping Pte. Ltd. of Singapore. The 38,000-cubic-meter ships are 180 meters in length, 28.4 meters in width, and 18.2 meters in height.

 

The shipbuilder will begin building the vessels from March 2016 and make deliveries by March 2017. Given the latest contract included options to build up to two more ships with identical designs, Hyundai Mipo expects additional orders in the near future.

 

At the signing ceremony, Eastern Pacific commercial director Knut Estensen and Hyundai Mipo president Choi Won-gil were in attendance. Due to the characteristics of carrying highly flammable material, LPG carriers must be built to withstand fire and explosion. This year to date, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard has won orders of 24 ships including nine LPG carriers whose value is estimated at $1.03 billion.

 

According to Clarksons Shipping Intelligence, the global LPG carrier orders are rising fast from 54 in 2012 and 115 in 2013, largely buoyed by the shale gas boom in North America.