Samsung Heavy Industries has joined its South Korean rivals in revealing new LNG carrier contracts as shipowners continue to pile in with new orders.

LNG giants warn of owners digging an overcapacity hole

Seoul-listed Samsung today announced a KRW 400bn ($358m) contract with an Asian shipowner.

NYK of Japan later said it was behind the order, which will see the ships delivered in 2021.

The contracts are backed by a long-term charter to Total Gas & Power Chartering.

The two LNG carriers will be equipped with a WinGD-made dual-fuel slow-speed diesel engine that has superior fuel-consumption efficiency and can operate on marine gas oil or boil-off gas stored in the cargo tank, NYK added.

They will also feature a re-liquefaction system that can use surplus boil-off gas effectively.

The move follows an agreement with Total in September for another new LNG vessel.

The contract completes an LNG order clean sweep for Korea’s big three shipyards this week, with Hyundai Heavy and DSME also securing fresh business in the industry’s hottest market.

Samsung has now signed newbuilding deals worth $5.4bn in 2018, with 13 LNG carriers among the 44 new vessels contracted at the yard, according to data reported by Yonhap.

Celsius Shipping, Cardiff Gas and GasLog are among the owners to he added LNG carriers at Samsung this year.

More than 50 new LNG carriers have been added to the sector’s orderbook in 2018.

The surge in activity has led to warnings from established players GasLog and Teekay for peers to slow speculative contracting.

Mark Kremin, chief executive of Teekay LNG, told Nordea’s shipping and offshore conference in London this week: “Shipowners are like miners. Once they find a little bit of gold they dig a big hole.

“I’m not sure if the 50 ships we have on order this year is big enough to be that hole, but I think we need to slow the pace.”

Shares in Samsung Heavy Industries were flat at KRW 7,410 each today, with trading volumes below average, according to data from Reuters.