ADNOC L&S, the largest shipowner in the Middle East, has launched the largest newbuilding program since its establishment, and Jiangnan Shipbuilding, as its favorite shipyard, has lived up to expectations and won the first order, and also achieved a breakthrough of "zero" in the field of VLAC construction in China's shipbuilding industry this year.
据贸易风消息，阿布扎比国家石油公司（ADNOC）旗下子公司ADNOC Logistics & Services（ADNOC L&S）已经通过其与万华化学的合资公司AW Shipping，在江南造船下单订造2+2艘93000立方米超大型液氨运输船（VLAC）建造合同。
The VLACs will be equipped with Type B cargo tanks, each costing about US$120 million, and the total contract value will reach US$480 million (about 3.465 billion yuan) after the confirmation of the alternative order takes effect. The first two of these will be delivered in 2026, and Jiangnan Shipbuilding has allegedly managed to "squeeze" an earlier delivery time for both ships.
If the news is true, this will be the first VLAC order undertaken by a Chinese shipyard this year, breaking the "monopoly" position of the South Korean shipbuilding industry in the field of VLAC construction this year.
It is understood that VLAC has become a hot spot in the new shipbuilding market this year, and Clarkson data shows that this year's VLAC new ship orders have reached 24, more than 21 ships last year, but these 24 new ship orders are all undertaken by South Korea's three major shipping companies. Of the 45 existing orders for this ship type, only 6 were undertaken by Jiangnan Shipbuilding last year, and the remaining 39 are being built by South Korea's three major shipbuilders.
At the same time, this order will also mark ADNOC L&S's first foray into the VLAC market. It is understood that ADNOC L&S will order a new batch of liquefied gas carriers at the beginning of this year, when it was reported that the company planned to order 6+4 175,000 cubic meters of LNG ships and 4 VLAC, and was inquiring about Chinese and South Korean shipyards. This is ADNOC L&S's largest LNG carrier build-to-order program since its inception.
Founded in 1971, ADNOC is the UAE's state-owned oil company and is the largest oil company in the UAE and the 12th largest in the world in terms of oil production. At the end of 2016, ADNOC integrated its three subsidiaries, ADNATCO, IRSHAD and ESNAAD, to create ADNOC L&S, which provides oil, gas and petroleum derivatives to customers worldwide and owns and operates the largest transport fleet in the UAE.
In 2019, ADNOC L&S launched its fleet expansion program with the goal of adding more than 25 vessels over the next 5 years, acquiring the first crude oil tankers and expanding the fleet of liquefied gas and dry bulk carriers, in line with ADNOC 2030's smart growth strategy. According to the official website, ADNOC L&S shipping has a fleet of more than 600 vessels, including liquefied gas carriers, oil tankers and bulk carriers, of which 57 are self-owned ships.
Jiangnan Shipbuilding has played an important role in the expansion of ADNOC L&S's fleet, and the cooperation between the two parties began in 2020. At that time, AW Shipping, a joint venture company of ADNOC L&S, placed an order for five 86,000 cubic meter dual-fuel VLGCs in Jiangnan Shipbuilding, and the new ships will be delivered in 2022 and 2023.
In 2022, ADNOC L&S has successively ordered as many as 6 175,000 cubic meter Mark III Flex LNG carriers in Jiangnan Shipbuilding, which is the first time that a Chinese shipyard has undertaken an order for MARK III thin-film large LNG carriers, and it is also China's first order for the pure international market in the field of large LNG carriers, creating a precedent for Chinese shipbuilders to directly cooperate with international leading oil and gas companies in the field of large-scale LNG ship construction.
With the order of ADNOC L&S, Jiangnan Shipbuilding has officially entered the large-scale LNG ship construction market, laying a solid foundation for the formation of stable LNG ship construction capacity, helping to expand and increase the proportion of high value-added ship types, and further enhancing its comprehensive competitiveness.
In addition, Jiangnan Shipbuilding is also the world's "strongest shipyard" in the field of ultra-large liquefied gas carriers (VLGC), and has long been in the world's leading position in the global VLGC and its derivative VLEC (ultra-large ethane carrier) market, ranking first in the world in terms of hand-held orders. Last year, Jiangnan Shipbuilding received the world's first 93,000 cubic meter VLAC order, becoming the first and only shipyard in China to build VLAC.
It is understood that Jiangnan Shipbuilding's 93,000 cubic meter VLAC is a derivative of the fourth-generation VLGC boutique ship type (Panda 93A) independently developed and designed, which is not only the preferred ship type for long-distance transportation of green ammonia, but also can be fully loaded with liquefied petroleum gases such as propane and butane. The total length of the ship is 230.0 meters, the width is 36.6 meters, the depth is 22.5 meters, and the structural draft is 13.0 meters. In the design of this type of ship, considering that the density of anhydrous liquid ammonia is higher than that of conventional liquefied petroleum gas, the tank design has been specially strengthened, and a new generation of low-resistance line type independently developed by independent research and development is adopted, so that it can have excellent and balanced performance under full load, ballast and different specific gravity liquid cargo loading conditions.
According to Clarkson's data, Jiangnan Shipbuilding currently holds a total of 77 orders of 6.68 million dwt, including 31 ultra-large ethane carriers (VLEC), 3 VLG and 6 VLAC, as well as 22 container ships, 8 LNG carriers and 7 car carriers, and the delivery schedule is scheduled until 2027.