China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding delivered the 174,000 cubic meter liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Al Fanar for QatarEnergy on Friday, October 16, China National Radio reported.
The vessel is the 11th LNG carrier the Shanghai shipyard, a unit of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, has built for QatarEnergy. The delivery brings Hudong-Zhonghua’s total LNG carrier deliveries to 68.
Al Fanar was named at the yard on October 15. It is the sixth vessel in an LNG carrier program that Shanghai LNG, a subsidiary of COSCO Shipping Energy, and Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) are running for QatarEnergy’s North Field expansion, iMarine reported.
The two companies won contracts in a global tender QatarEnergy launched in 2021. The contracts cover seven 174,000 cubic meter carriers for the first phase of the project and six 271,000 cubic meter QC-Max carriers for the second phase. Hudong-Zhonghua is building all 13 ships.
The first five vessels of the first phase had carried nearly 4 million tonnes of LNG by the end of September 2026.
Al Fanar is 299 meters long and 46.4 meters wide. It is a fifth-generation design from the yard’s Changheng series and is classed by the American Bureau of Shipping and the China Classification Society.
On the same day, Hudong-Zhonghua signed contracts with Malaysia International Shipping Corporation (MISC) for five 174,000 cubic meter LNG carriers. The yard’s LNG carrier order book now stands at 57 vessels, more than 21% of the global total.
The delivery comes as the Iran war continues to disrupt Qatar’s LNG exports. Qatar’s government revenue fell 42% in the first half of 2026, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani told the Shura Council on October 13, The National reported.
