China’s Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Offshore (DSIC Offshore) held the steel cutting ceremony for JHW Engineering & Contracting’s (JHW) first 85,000 m3 very large ethane carrier (VLEC) on June 15, 2017.

The vessel will feature four cargo tankers, three of which are IMO type C star-trilobe tanks, MAN dual-fuel engines and MAN alpha propellers.

JHW informed that the ships would be the first very large gas carriers’ to feature the semi refrigerated solution.

The vessel is scheduled to join its owner at the beginning of 2019 and would be deployed to provide midstream services in an effort “to build a maritime virtual pipeline from US to Asia across the ocean,” according to JHW.