The world's first compressed natural gas (CNG) carrier has been ordered by Pelayaran Bahtera Adhiguna, a subsidiary of Indonesia's state-owned power company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PT PLN). The ship, to be classed by American class society ABS, will be built at China’s Qingdao Wuchuan Heavy Industry's shipyard.

The CNG ship has been designed by China's CIMC Ocean Engineering Design & Research Institute.

PT PLN's inaugural CNG ship, which will be dual-classed with the Indonesian class society Biro Klasifikasi Indonesia, will be 110 m in length and offer sailing speeds of 14 knots. It is designed to offer a nominal CNG capacity of 2,200 cu m and will fly the Indonesian flag.

The ship is expected to transport natural gas from Indonesian fields in East Java to communities on the island of Lombok, benefiting relatively remote communities that are not economically feasible to supply by pipeline.