World's Largest VLEC Delivered by China's Jiangnan Shipyard

Jiangnan Shipyard Hands Over the World's Largest VLEC

China's shipbuilding industry marked another record on August 18 when CSSC Jiangnan Shipyard delivered GAS BEGONIA, a 99,000-cubic-meter ethane-ethylene carrier that ranks as the world's largest Very Large Ethane Carrier (VLEC) by cargo capacity. The 230-meter vessel is the eighth unit in a series built for Southwest Maritime Limited, a Chinese company specializing in liquefied-gas shipping, and it was handed over roughly 140 days ahead of schedule, according to Chinese shipping media.

Hours later, the same yard broke ground on an even more ambitious project: the world's first 150,000-cubic-meter Ultra Large Ethane Carrier (ULEC), the lead vessel in a six-ship order from Singapore's Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS). Together, the two events underscore how quickly Chinese yards have moved to the front of gas-carrier construction, a market long controlled by South Korean shipbuilders and one with direct implications for Japan, whose petrochemical industry relies on imported ethane and liquefied petroleum gas.

The Vessel: A Record-Setting 99,000-Cubic-Meter Carrier

GAS BEGONIA was named on June 23 and delivered on August 18, joining the fleet roughly 140 days ahead of the contractual schedule. Built for Southwest Maritime, the ship carries a cargo capacity that Jiangnan says makes it the largest VLEC in the world, ahead of comparable vessels from rival yards. It is designed to transport a range of liquefied industrial and energy gases, including ethane, ethylene and liquefied petroleum gas.

Technically, the vessel stands out for its cargo-containment system: the B-type tanks were independently developed by Jiangnan, part of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), rather than licensed from a European or Japanese supplier. Chinese state media described the overall technical indicators as reaching world-leading levels. The ship's dimensions, 230 meters in length with a beam of roughly 36.6 meters and a depth of about 22.5 meters, are optimized for long-distance ethane voyages, and the hull design is compatible with major liquefied-gas terminals worldwide.

Green Shipping: An Ethane-Fueled Engine and 99% Sulfide Cuts

Beyond its size, the vessel is notable for its environmental profile. Yuan Shizhen, chief constructor of the series, said the carrier is equipped with a shaft generator and an ethane-fueled main engine that can reduce sulfide emissions by 99 percent and hydrocarbon emissions by 18 percent compared with conventional heavy-fuel-oil propulsion.

The choice of ethane as a marine fuel matters for the wider fleet. Ethane burns more cleanly than heavy fuel oil and is available at the very terminals where the ship loads its cargo, making it a practical dual-purpose fuel for a VLEC operating on long-haul routes. Jiangnan said the design also lowers fuel consumption and maintenance costs, giving owners an operating advantage over older tonnage in a market where freight rates remain volatile. For charterers, the environmental math is increasingly decisive: tightening emissions rules in European and Asian waters make vessels with 99 percent lower sulfide output easier to employ, and the ethane-fueled main engine eliminates the need to carry separate bunker fuel on voyages where the cargo itself is the energy source.

The ULEC Leap: Breaking Ground on a 150,000-Cubic-Meter Giant

The same day, Jiangnan officially broke ground on the world's first 150,000-cubic-meter ULEC, hull number H2842, for Eastern Pacific Shipping. The vessel is the first in a six-ship series signed in August 2024 that represents the world's first and largest fleet of MARK III membrane-type ethane carriers, using French GTT containment technology at a scale never attempted before.

The ULEC program pushes the segment into new territory. Where the 99,000-cubic-meter VLEC class was designed mainly for US ethane exports and the requirements of Chinese petrochemical buyers, the larger ULEC targets the economics of very long-haul trades, where bigger cargo parcels lower unit transport costs. EPS, one of the world's largest privately owned shipping groups, has ordered the vessels as part of a bet that ethane demand will keep rising as Asia's petrochemical industry shifts feedstock from naphtha to cheaper gas liquids.

China's Shipbuilding Ascent: From Follower to Record-Setter

The GAS BEGONIA delivery and the ULEC groundbreaking fit a broader pattern. Over the past decade, Chinese yards have moved from building simple bulk carriers and containerships into high-value gas carriers, car carriers and offshore vessels, segments where South Korea and, to a lesser extent, Japan once held near-monopolies.

CSSC, the state-owned conglomerate that controls Jiangnan, has made gas-carrier construction a strategic priority. Jiangnan alone has now delivered eight 99,000-cubic-meter VLECs in the series, with more under construction, and is simultaneously working on LNG carriers, LPG carriers and the new ULEC class. Industry data shows Chinese shipbuilders taking an expanding share of the global orderbook across most commercial segments, a shift that has prompted Korean yards to concentrate on the most complex vessels and on their own dual-fuel designs. Analysts tracking the sector note that Chinese yards now account for the majority of global newbuilding tonnage on order, and gas carriers are among the fastest-growing slices of that book. The VLEC and ULEC programs give CSSC a flagship product it can market to international owners, including the EPS order from Singapore, rather than relying only on domestic demand.

The Japan Angle: Mitsui OSK and the Race for Ethane Logistics

For Japan, the ethane-carrier build-up is a story about both competition and partnership. Japanese shipping companies remain major operators of gas carriers even as construction migrates to China. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), one of Japan's largest shipowners, is building two very large ethane carriers for India's ONGC in a joint venture, with the vessels expected to begin carrying US ethane to ONGC's Dahej petrochemical complex around mid-2028. Those ships are being built at Korean yards, in a reminder that Japan still imports most of its merchant fleet rather than building it at home.

Japan's petrochemical sector is also a direct beneficiary of the ethane trade. Japanese firms have explored importing US ethane as a feedstock for ethylene crackers, and Japanese trading houses and shipping lines participate across the gas supply chain. Japanese yards such as Japan Marine United still build high-end LNG and gas carriers, but their presence in the fast-growing ethane segment is limited. The MOL-ONGC arrangement illustrates the division of labor emerging across Asia: Chinese and Korean yards build the hulls, while Japanese and other regional operators manage the ships and the cargoes. As Chinese yards push the size frontier of ethane carriers, they are effectively setting the freight economics that Japanese importers and ship operators will have to work with: cheaper transport per ton, but also a larger Chinese-controlled fleet competing for the same cargoes.

What to Watch For

The immediate focus is on the ULEC program and on how quickly the remaining five EPS vessels follow the lead ship. Jiangnan's ability to deliver the 99,000-cubic-meter series ahead of schedule suggests the larger class could also arrive early, which would put additional ethane capacity on the water just as new US export terminals come online.

Politics could complicate the picture. The 2025 US-China trade dispute temporarily suspended US ethane exports to China, and CGTN reported that GAS BEGONIA will mainly support ethane transportation for domestic petrochemical enterprises, a sign that Chinese buyers are building their own logistics for non-US supply sources. For Japan, the watch item is the same one that has dominated Asian energy policy for a decade: how much of the region's growing gas demand will be served by Chinese-built, Chinese-operated tonnage, and what that means for Japanese shipowners, traders and petrochemical producers competing in the same market.

By Kenji Tanaka, Staff Writer

This article was produced with AI-assisted research and editorial support. Sources: CGTN, iMarine News, Seatrade Maritime News.