With the confirmation of the latest six LNG carrier orders by Samsung Heavy Industries, the total number of new orders for large LNG ships worldwide this year has finally surpassed 10.

Samsung Heavy Industries announced on August 18 that they have secured orders for six large LNG carriers from two ship owners in Oceania at a price of 2.1 trillion Korean won (approximately $1.518 billion USD, 10.9 billion RMB). The cost per vessel is around $253 million. These six new vessels will be delivered to the ship owners by November 2028.

According to Clarkson's data, the current newbuilding price for a 174,000 cubic meter LNG carrier is approximately $250 million, a 4% decrease compared to the same period last year.

While Samsung Heavy Industries did not disclose the specific ship owners, reports from foreign media suggest that four of the LNG carriers were ordered by Greek ship owner TMS Cardiff Gas, with the remaining two ordered by Danish ship owner Celsius Shipping.

Both of these ship owners are longstanding clients of Samsung Heavy Industries. Celsius Shipping recently ordered a 180,000 cubic meter LNG carrier earlier this year, and TMS Cardiff Gas operates a fleet of 20 LNG carriers all built by the three major South Korean shipbuilders.

Samsung Heavy Industries has secured 25 new ship orders totaling $4.8 billion this year, covering various vessel types including LNG carriers, shuttle tankers, VLGCs, crude oil tankers, container ships, and FLNG early work contracts.

The company expects a stable demand for natural gas transport vessels like LNG carriers and is in negotiations with ship owners for multiple projects including LNG carriers and environmentally friendly container ships.

While there has been a slight increase in the number of new orders for large LNG carriers globally this year, it remains lower compared to the same period last year. South Korean shipbuilders have a competitive advantage in the LNG carrier sector, but the order volume is below expectations. Meanwhile, Chinese shipbuilders have not secured large LNG carrier orders this year, but there are reports that GasLog has signed a letter of intent with Jiangnan Shipyard to build 2+2 LNG carriers, marking GasLog's first LNG carrier order in China.