GTT has announced that it has received an order from HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE) for the tank design of two new liquefied natural gas carriers (LNGCs), placed on behalf of the ship-owner Tsakos Energy Navigation.

The two LNGCs will be built at the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard. Each vessel will have a capacity of 174,000 m³, a standard size for modern membrane-type LNG carriers and the workhorse capacity of the seaborne LNG trade. The cryogenic tanks of the vessels will be equipped with the Mark III Flex membrane containment system developed by GTT. Delivery of the vessels is expected by the first quarter of 2029.

GTT (Gaztransport & Technigaz) is a French technology company specializing in cryogenic membrane containment systems for the storage and maritime transport of liquefied natural gas. In membrane-type LNG carriers, the cargo is carried at approximately −163 °C and near-atmospheric pressure in insulated tanks lined with the containment technology. Mark III Flex uses insulation panels carrying a corrugated metallic primary barrier, allowing the cargo tanks to follow the shape of the ship's hull rather than sit as independent tanks; this membrane approach is the most widely used containment technology on large LNG carriers. GTT's role in such projects is to supply the tank design and associated engineering to the building yard, while construction itself is carried out at the shipbuilder's facilities.

HD KSOE is the shipbuilding and offshore engineering holding company of South Korea's HD Hyundai group, overseeing the group's yards, including HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, one of the largest shipbuilding facilities in the world.

Tsakos Energy Navigation is an Athens-based energy shipping company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: TEN).

Source: GTT, via Hellenic Shipping News