Wärtsilä to provide gas handling systems for largest ethane carriers

Samsung Heavy Industries has ordered Wärtsilä gas handling systems for a set of six new 87,000 cm3 capacity very large ethane carriers (vlecs), being built at the Samsung Heavy Industries yard in
South Korea, with an option for additional vessels within this series. The deliveries of the gas handling systems will commence in 2016. These vessels will be the biggest ethane carriers ever built, and represent a new generation of such vessels mainly transporting ethane as feed stock to the petrochemical industry.

The transportation of ethane is a rapidly growing segment of the marine gas carrying business and it is anticipated that the global VLEC fleet will increase significantly during the coming years. The vlecs are being built for India’s Reliance Group. The group has businesses in the energy and materials value chain, including petrochemicals. The new vessels will carry ethane from American shale gas to India to be processed for making plastic.

 Delivery of the ships will commence at the end of 2016 and is scheduled to be completed in early 2017. Wärtsilä’s scope of supply represents a complete cargo handling package for each ship. This includes the process and arrangement engineering; the deck tank; all equipment related to the cargo handling; and a purpose-built reliquefaction plant to handle the C-ethane from the American shale gas.