In a shipping brokerage report, SwissChemGas, a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) trader and shipowner, has joined the boom in new-build gas carriers.
SwissChemGas has placed an order with private shipbuilder Hengli Heavy Industries for two 93,000 m³ Very Large Ammonia Carriers (VLACs). The vessels are scheduled for delivery between 2028 and 2029; the contract price has not been disclosed. Neither Hengli Heavy Industries nor SwissChemGas has confirmed the order.
SwissChemGas was founded in 1997 as SwissGas and is a subsidiary of the Greek shipping company SwissMarine, which primarily engages in dry bulk shipping. The company had scaled back its LPG trading operations but was reorganized and resumed operations in 2016.
Currently, Hengli Heavy Industries has established the capacity to receive bulk orders in the VLAC sector.
According to data released by Hengli Heavy Industries, in the first seven months of 2026, global shipowners placed orders for a total of 40 VLACs, with Chinese and South Korean shipyards securing 26 (65%) and 14 (35%) of those orders, respectively. This marks the first time Chinese shipyards have surpassed South Korean shipyards in terms of order volume; during the same period, Hengli Heavy Industries ranked first among individual shipyards worldwide with 14 VLAC orders.
On October 11, Hengli Heavy Industries announced that it had secured contracts for 11 VLACs within a single week, covering three specifications: 88,000 m³, 90,000 m³, and 93,000 m³. This means that Hengli Heavy Industries’ orders secured in a single week have already exceeded one-quarter of its total orders for the first seven months of this year. If the two 93,000 m³ VLACs from SwissChemGas are new orders, they will further solidify Hengli Heavy Industries’ order backlog in this vessel segment.
In terms of the market, the LPG carrier sector is currently experiencing a peak in new orders. A mid-October report from Clarkson’s indicated that, by 2026, new orders for LPG carriers are set to reach a record high, representing a contracted capacity of 8.5 million cubic meters.
Based on data from the shipping brokerage Banchero Costa, from January through September 2026, global shipowners placed orders for a total of 84 LPG carriers, including 68 VLGCs/VLACs, with the remainder consisting of small and medium-sized vessels; in terms of carrying capacity, the ratio of VLGC/VLAC orders to the fleet’s total capacity has risen to 44.5 percent.