MISC to expand LNG fleet

Malaysia International Shipping Corp (MISC) will increase its fleet of LNG carriers to 28 by 2008 from the present 17 to meet the growing demand for gas deliveries, its chairman Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican said. The company has placed orders for six 137,000 cubic metre LNG carriers of the ?Puteri Satu Class? and is in negotiations to buy five more.

Mohd Hassan declined to mention the value of the five LNG carriers but industry sources said they could cost some $790 million. “We have some LNG carriers on order and some being constructed. We will have 28 LNG carriers by 2008,” he told reporters after the company?s AGM in Kuala Lumpur on 12 August. He said MISC would continue to maintain its position as the largest owner and operator of LNG carriers in the world with the delivery of the new carriers.

“These newbuildings are not for speculative trading and meant for specific charters. MISC has established its credentials in the LNG business having been in the business for 20 years in the Far East and now make deliveries to the US and Europe,” he said. According to industry sources, the additional LNG carriers are likely to be ordered from Korea?s Samsung and the Japan?s Mitsui shipyards with each tanker likely to cost in the region of $150 million.