Mol switches Wilhelmshaven FSRU for LNG carrier

Japanese shipowner Mitsui OSK Lines (Mol) has switched an order for a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to one for a "super-large" LNG carrier instead.

The switch comes after German utility Uniper cancelled its planned Wilhelmshaven LNG import project, which left open the question on what would happen to the FSRU ordered for the facility.

Mol ordered the FSRU from South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) in May last year, and subsequently signed a charter on the ordered unit with the Wilhelmshaven project. The FSRU had been planned for delivery by the end of June 2023.

With the switch, the Japanese shipowner is instead set to receive a super-large carrier from DSME in late October 2023 instead, at a cost of around 226bn won ($203mn), much less than the original $334mn for the FSRU. The FSRU had been intended to have a 263,000m³ capacity — in line with Mol's FSRU Challenger — but it remains unclear if the carrier will also have the same capacity, which would make it larger than all but the relatively small number of Q-Max carriers in the global fleet, all of which operate under term charter with Qatar's Ras Laffan project.

By Samuel Good