The Japanese yard has secured a contract for a 38,000-cbm, fully refrigerated vessel from domestic owner Kumiai Senpaku.

A Namura official confirms the order, saying it will be the yard’s first fully refrigerated gas carrier.

“In the past, we only built semi-refrigerated LPGs,” he said.

Namura’s previous LPG delivery was to Algeria’s Sonatrach in 2008.

One senior manager at Kumiai says Namura will hand over its newbuilding in 2019.