Samsung Heavy Industries said on Sept. 4 that it has signed a design contract with Zvezda, a Russian state-run shipyard, for an icebreaking LNG carrier to be used for the Arctic LNG2 project at the site of the fifth Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia.
Under the deal, Samsung Heavy will design an LNG carrier, which generates 45 MW-class electricity with LNG as fuel and break the ice up to 2.1 meters thick even in the extreme environment of -52 degrees.
Previously, Samsung Heavy won the world`s first two-way icebreaker in 2005 to explore the icebreaker market and successfully deliver the world`s first polarized drill ship in 2008.
By doing so, the company emphasized that it has secured a proven ice-breaking technology. He added that the company's ability to build LNG carriers, which it has accumulated by winning orders for some 140 LNG carriers, was also the main reason for its selection as the technology partner.
"This design contract was an opportunity to check the competitiveness of Samsung Heavy Industries' ice-breaking technology and its main LNG carrier," a Samsung Heavy official said, adding, "As the company expands its technology to LNG carriers, its position in ice-breaking merchant ships will become more solid."
Meanwhile, Samsung Heavy Industries is making aggressive moves to actively target the Russian market by finalizing the establishment of a joint venture with the Zvezda shipyard on the same day to jointly build a shuttle tanker and support technology.
Samsung Heavy currently has orders for 60 out of 138 shuttle tankers placed worldwide, maintaining an unrivaled 43 percent market share.
