China Begins Building World’s Largest LNG Carrier

China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) has officially started construction on the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier at its Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding facility in Shanghai, marking a milestone in a historic deal between China and Qatar, the world’s largest LNG provider. The first vessel of the new QC-Max class, measuring 344 meters (1,129 feet) in length, is scheduled for delivery in 2028.

The QC-Max carrier will have a cargo capacity of 271,000 cubic metres of LNG, representing a 57% increase over the industry’s mainstream 174,000-cubic-metre LNG carriers, while delivering industry-leading overall performance. Each vessel measures 344 meters in length, 53.6 meters in width and 12 meters in draft, making it the largest LNG carrier ever constructed.

CSSC won a contract for 24 QC-Max superheavy LNG tankers from QatarEnergy in April 2024 for 18 vessels, followed by an additional deal for six ships months later, with the combined contracts valued at more than 56 billion yuan (approximately $8.27 billion), representing the world’s largest shipbuilding order on record. The project underscores China’s dominance in LNG carrier construction, with its share of the global LNG carrier market now exceeding 30%.

Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co Ltd, a subsidiary of CSSC, announced that it will steadily advance construction of the first vessel while fulfilling the entire series of contracts on schedule with superior quality. The QC-Max ships will be built to support Qatar’s expanding LNG export capacity and strengthen global energy supply chains.