Talk of a newbuilding order started several years ago and the tender was issued in January last year. KOTC called for yards to have 10 years’ experience in VLGC construction, limiting the number of potential shipbuilders to the top South Korean and Japanese facilities.
The tender was seen as a replacement process for KOTC, as two of its four VLGCs — the 77,000-cbm Gas Al Gurain and Gas Al Mutlaa (both built 1993) — are vintage ships.
