(Yicai Global) Oct. 13 -- China Merchants Industry has become the fifth Chinese shipbuilder to be certified to build large liquefied natural gas carrier vessels as purchase orders for China-made LNG carriers surge amid growing demand for more sea transportation of the gas rather than overland.

China Merchants Industry’s self-developed and self-built LNG storage cabin has been given the green light by France’s Gaztransport & Technigaz, a specialist in designing LNG storage systems, Shanghai Securities News reported today,

Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, Jiangnan Shipyard, Dalian Shipbuilding Industry and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group already hold such permits.

Orders for China-made LNG carriers this year were already two-and-a-half times that of the whole of last year by the end of September at 32 units, the report citing UK shipping data provider VesselsValue.

Due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, Europe is now importing much of its gas from overseas, which means the gas is being brought in by ship, rather than through pipelines, said Cao Bo, an official at the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry. This has resulted in a big jump in orders for LNG carriers worldwide and Chinese shipbuilders in particular are benefiting.

China is now the second-biggest supplier of LNG carriers in the world after South Korea, accounting for 30 percent of all new orders, Cao said. The market is monopolized by only a handful of shipbuilders in China, South Korea and Japan due to the high technical threshold needed to build such large, specialized vessels. Thus demand is strong and profitability is high, he added.

Hong Kong-based China Merchants Industry, a unit under state-backed industrial giant China Merchants Group, operates nine shipyards and seven shipbuilding and repair bases and employs over 1,500 technicians, according to its website. 

Editor: Kim Taylor