(Yicai) Oct. 30 -- Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group, a unit of industry giant China State Shipbuilding, has set a new record for the most large liquefied natural gas carriers delivered in a single month, according to a media report.

Hudong-Zhonghua handed over the Mihezem, a 174,000-cubic-meter LNG carrier it developed and built, to a client today, marking its third delivery of a large LNG vessel this month, according to the Shanghai Observer. The firm will deliver a fourth tomorrow.

So far this year, Hudong-Zhonghua has delivered eight large LNG carriers, the same number as in the whole of last year, the report said. Deliveries are expected to reach 11 this year.

The Mihezem is a fifth-generation LNG carrier in the Changheng series and is the 55th built by the company, an executive was cited as saying. The Mihezem can store enough LNG to meet Shanghai’s household needs for half a month.

Hudong-Zhonghua has more than 50 orders for LNG carriers on the books, of which more than 20 have already started construction, the report said.

As the firm has mastered key shipbuilding technologies by itself, the localization rate of parts and components for this vessel has exceeded 80 percent, the report said. That higher domestic content has helped boost ships’ overall performance, cut construction costs, and shorten build times.

By taking the lead in developing and building large LNG carriers, Hudong-Zhonghua has helped to swelled the ranks of domestic suppliers to more than 130 firms from 20, spawning a supporting market worth hundreds of billions of Chinese yuan, equal to billions of US dollars.

Editor: Futura Costaglione