With the delivery of Ocean Oasis, a 174,000-cubic-metre LNG carrier, Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co has announced that it has doubled its LNG vessel production capacity during China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025) period. Hudong-Zhonghua is a key subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), the world’s largest shipbuilding group.
To date, the shipbuilder has completed construction of 13 large LNG carriers, with 11 vessels delivered this year alone. The Ocean Oasis highlights the company’s growing efficiency: measuring 295 metres in length and 45 metres in width, the vessel was built in just 16 months, the shortest construction period ever achieved for an LNG carrier of this class. This accelerated timeline enabled the ship to be named and delivered three and a half months ahead of schedule, according to Hudong-Zhonghua.
The achievement marks a significant leap forward when compared with China’s first domestically built LNG carrier, Dapeng Sun. Delivered in April 2008, that vessel required 40 months to construct, with the overall project spanning nearly a decade from initial planning to completion—underscoring the rapid advances in China’s LNG shipbuilding capabilities over the past decade and a half.