Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry (XSI) has signed shipbuilding contracts with Landmark Capital, an investment firm in the shipping and offshore sector, for the construction of a 45,000cbm LNG carrier plus one option.

The order is XSI's first ever LNG carrier order. The vessel is designed by Norwegian company LNG New Technologies and is slated for delivery in 2017.

The mid-sized carrier will be the first ever to utilize the LNT A-BOX containment system, licensed and designed by LNG New Technologies (LNT). The vessel has been designed for worldwide trade of LNG, but with special consideration to re-loading of cargoes and local and regional trades.

A successful mock-up testing of the LNT A-BOX technology was conducted in cooperation with Xiamen Shipbuilding Industries in January of last year and was witnessed by DNV, BV, and ABS whom have all granted the technology Approval in Principle.

Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (DSIC) also won a bid this week to build two 170,000cbm LNG carriers for the Sinopec APLNG project in Australia, DSIC's first ever large LNG carrier order.