Singapore-based owner Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) has won a bid to purchase, build, and operate four 98,000 cum VLECs for China-based Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical.

The vessels will be built at South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries and will be chartered to Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical for 15 years upon delivery in the first half of 2022. All four vessels will feature fuel ethane propulsion.

The deal also marks an entry for EPS into the ethane carrier segment.

Zhejiang Satellite is building a large chartered VLEC fleet for transporting ethane from the US Gulf Coast to Lianyungang. The company currently has a total of 12 VLECs on the orderbook after it finalized a sale and leaseback deal for six VLECs with MISC in September.