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DSME and SHIC Looking to Win Icebreaking LNG Carrier Orders from Russia

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) and Samsung Heavy Industries Co. (SHIC) are full of hope for winning icebreaking LNG carrier orders from Russia. Korean shipbuilders are likely to sweep up orders for icebreaking LNG carriers that will be used for the Second Yamal Project, a Russian LNG development project.

Tradewinds, a shipbuilding and marine magazine, said on June 29 that DSME will win an order for up to 12 icebreaking LNG carriers from Novatek, a Russian state-run energy company. The value of the 12 vessels — six confirmed and six optional units — is US$4 billion. “We expect orders to be placed by the end of the third quarter of 2020 at the latest,” a shipbuilding industry source said.

An icebreaker has to break ice more than 2 meters thick under extreme conditions of minus 52 degrees Celsius. It needs cutting-edge technologies such as anti-cold design and icebreaking systems at both the front and back of ships. The icebreakers will be tasked with carrying 19.8 million tons of LNG annually from a gas field in the northern Arctic region of the Gidan Peninsula.

The ship order that DSME is expected to win is the second batch of orders for the Second Yamal Project. DSME built all 15 icebreaking LNG carriers that were put into the First Yamal Project in 2014.

Samsung Heavy Industries won five of the 15 units in the first batch of the Second Yamal Project in 2019. Industry sources say that a contract for the remaining 10 ships will be signed with Samsung Heavy Industries within this year. “Only Korean shipbuilders with a lot of experience are able to build large icebreaking LNG carriers that require high-level technology,” said an industry observer. “Samsung Heavy Industries participated in the design phase of the project and as a result has gained the upper hand.”
Source: Business Korea

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