KSOE wins this year's first LNG carrier order worth $783 million

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE), an intermediate shipbuilding holding company of HD Hyundai Co., said on Tuesday that it recently signed an agreement to build three 200,000-cubic-meter class ultra-large liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers with a freight carrier in Oceania.

The contract size is 971.4 billion won ($783.6 million).

The ships commissioned to build are 299.8 meters in length, 48.9 meters in width, and 26.9 meters in height, and will be built by the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in Ulsan and delivered to ship owners in sequence from the first half of 2026.

This is the world's first LNG carrier order of the year.

Last year, KSOE won 44 orders out of 173 for LNG carriers all across the world.

London-based maritime industry research firm Clarksons Research predicted in its Clarkson Forecast Club published in September last year that this year's order for LNG carriers will be 83, and will continue at a solid pace.

"Inquiries about ordering LNG carriers have been continuing since the beginning of the year. We will focus on winning orders this year for eco-friendly high value-added ships such as LNG carriers and strive to strengthen profitability," said an official of Korea Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.

Write to Seo-Woo Jang at suwu@hankyung.com