China has delivered its largest-ever liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier, bringing the number of domestic shipyards capable of designing and building the advanced vessels to five, as the country steps up its challenge to South Korea’s dominance in the high-value sector.

The milestone was marked by China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu), a subsidiary of China Merchants Group, which delivered the 180,000-cubic-metre (6.36-million cubic-feet) vessel on Sunday, according to a company press release.

Construction on the 298.8-metre-long (980-foot-long) ship, named Celsius Georgetown, began in October 2023 as the first of six identical vessels ordered by Danish firm Celsius Shipping, with the second slated for delivery in three months, the shipbuilder said.

The company hailed the ship’s completion as a “significant breakthrough” in the construction of large-scale clean energy carriers. Built to transport fuel at temperatures as low as minus 163 degrees Celsius (minus 261 degrees Fahrenheit), LNG carriers are widely regarded as the apex of shipbuilding technology, owing to their sophisticated design and engineering.

Company leadership framed the delivery as a strategic turning point. At the vessel’s naming ceremony earlier this month, Miao Jianmin, chairman of China Merchants Group, said it marked the group’s formal entry into the “core global camp” of large-scale LNG shipbuilders.

He also pledged to advance the development of “hi-tech, intelligent, green and internationalised” operations across the group’s ports, shipping and shipbuilding sectors during the 15th five-year plan period.