CIMC Leasing, the financial leasing arm of CIMC, has signed a ship financing deal with Qidong Fengshun Ship Heavy Industry and Zhejiang Huaxiang Shipping for three 14,000 cu m LNG carriers. The total value of the deal is RMB450m. CIMC Leasing will provide a complete financing package for the deal and two subsidiaries of CIMC will build the LNG tankers on the ships.

The vessels will be the first feeder LNG carriers in China and are expected to be delivered in the first half of 2015.

The domestic LNG shipping market is currently non-existent in China, with the ministry of transport having recently approved two companies, CNOOC and Zhejiang Huaxiang Shipping to operate LNG shipping services. CNOOC will mainly transport its own LNG, making Zhejiang Huaxiang Shipping the only player in the market.

According to a report by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China will need about 100 LNG carriers by 2020, and most of them are feeder LNG carriers that serve domestic coastal ports and inland ports.