As the year draws to a close, the newbuild market for liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers—which had seen sluggish orders in 2025—is witnessing fresh shipbuilding activity.
According to TradeWinds, Japanese shipping giant Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries for the construction of 4+4 174,000 m³ LNG carriers. A LOI is a semi-contractual document formally expressing a shipyard’s intent to build specific vessels, executed prior to the formal contract. Following the signing of the LOI, both parties will engage in technical consultations and coordinate terms to ultimately execute the contract, thereby confirming the order.
Currently, no further details have been disclosed regarding NYK’s project to build up to eight LNG carriers. However, based on the price of a large LNG carrier announced on December 2 by HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE), the intermediate holding company for HD Hyundai Group’s shipbuilding business, which is approximately $250 million, the total value of all eight new buildings would reach approximately $2 billion if all eight are put into operation.
It is understood that NYK’s latest LNG carrier construction project stems from a long-term charter agreement signed with Cheniere Energy. As the largest LNG producer in the United States, the latter plans to increase its annual LNG production capacity to over 50 million tons by 2026. NYK’s order was placed specifically to support this expansion plan, aiming to enhance shipping capacity for transporting U.S.-produced LNG to global markets.
In 2025, against the backdrop of a marked decline in global new ship orders, LNG carriers also have not escaped the chill in order intake. According to publicly available order data, a total of 24 + 3 vessels have been ordered so far in 2025. Among them:
19 vessels were secured by South Korean shipyards: 8 by HD Hyundai Samho, 4 by Hanwha Ocean, and 7 by Samsung Heavy Industries;
3 + 3 vessels were awarded to Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, a Chinese shipyard;
2 vessels were contracted by Hanwha Philly Shipyard, a US shipyard.
According to Clarkson’s statistics, the total number of LNG carrier orders for the full year of 2024 stands at 93 vessels, with a combined capacity of 16.01 million cubic meters. This figure ranks second only to the 179 vessels and 30.475 million cubic meters recorded in 2022.
The strong order intake in 2024 was largely attributable to the commencement of new shipbuilding projects under Phase II of QatarEnergy’s historic LNG fleet expansion project. Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding emerged as the world’s leading LNG carrier builder for 2024, securing orders for 24 of the largest 271,000 m³ ultra-large LNG carriers from QatarEnergy, with a total contract value reaching $8 billion.
Based on publicly available confirmed orders, LNG carrier orders so far in 2025 represent only about 25.8% of the total orders for 2024; in terms of the number of vessels, the difference is as high as 69. Therefore, the global shipbuilding industry is eagerly anticipating the return of more LNG carrier orders to the market.