SHELL Tankers has signed charter agreements for a further six liquefied natural gas ships with Knutsen LNG, Pan Ocean and other investors, bringing its newbuild LNG carrier total to 24.
The 174,000 cbm LNG ships will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries.
Grahaeme Henderson, global head of Shell shipping and maritime said, “These ships will be some 35% more efficient than required by the energy efficiency design index and 20% more than required by the annual efficiency ratio, delivering significant emission reductions for our time charter fleet.
“Working with partners across shipping sectors is key to achieving our ambition to help accelerate the industry’s progress towards net-zero emissions.
“We will continue to work with shipbuilders, equipment manufacturers and owners to look for opportunities to incorporate new emission reduction technologies as they become available.”
As part of Shell’s time-charter fleet, each ship’s performance will be optimised by analysing real time data from the ships and deploying Shell’s proprietary draft and trim optimisation software, JAWS, to enable further efficiencies and emission reductions.
As with the other ships of this class ordered by Shell, they will incorporate the very latest industry safety practices, including MEG4-compliant moorings. They will all be equipped with efficient dual-fuel X-DF engines, boil-off management plants, air lubrication systems and shaft generators for auxiliary power, along with optimised hull and design speed.
Delivery will take place from 2023. This order builds on the long-term charters Shell announced for eight ships of the same class in December 2019, six in August 2020, and four in December 2020.
