Thenamaris Back in LNG Newbuilds With $494m HD Hyundai Pair

A KRW662.9bn ($494m) contract disclosed by HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering this week has ended Thenamaris' eight-year absence from LNG carrier newbuilding contracting — two 174,000 cu m vessels booked at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' Ulsan yard for delivery in 2029.

The price works out to roughly $247m per ship, a figure worth pausing over. LNG newbuild prices have held near historic highs since 2022, and this order sits squarely within the current benchmark band for 174,000 cu m membrane carriers at top-tier Korean yards. There is no discount on display here; Thenamaris is paying the market rate for slots it will not receive until 2029, when the LNG carrier order book's delivery schedule may look very different.

Who is actually behind the order?

Officially, an undisclosed customer. HD KSOE's filing identified the buyer only as "an Africa-based shipping company," which is where the paper trail from the Korean side stops.

The attribution to Thenamaris rests on two converging pieces of evidence. Shipbuilding sources have linked the order to the Nikolas Martinos-led Greek owner, and Thenamaris' own newbuilding register lists two 174,000 cu m LNG carriers at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, identified by hull numbers H3696 and H3697, both scheduled for delivery in 2029. The company currently manages seven LNG ships. Neither the yard nor the owner has confirmed the link on the record — the standard posture in a sector where disclosure rules and commercial discretion often diverge.

What does the deal renew?

The order restores a shipbuilding relationship that dates to 2018, when Thenamaris contracted the 174,000 cu m Cool Discoverer and Cool Racer at Hyundai. Those vessels joined its fleet in 2020 and 2021, respectively, and remain the reference point for the owner's previous LNG cycle.

The gap between that order and this one is telling. Thenamaris sat out the 2021-2023 LNG ordering wave, when charter rates spiked and rivals locked in slots at lower prices. Entering now means paying more for later delivery — a bet that LNG trade growth will keep tonnage tight into the 2030s, or that Thenamaris has secured charter cover it has not disclosed.

How big is the broader newbuilding programme?

The LNG pair adds to an unusually broad construction campaign. Thenamaris currently lists 21 vessels under construction, spanning:

• Crude tankers, including suezmaxes
• Product tankers, including LR2s and MRs
• Very large ammonia carriers
• Containerships
• The two LNG carriers now on the books

The yards involved sit in both China and South Korea, spreading building risk across two shipbuilding nations and multiple vessel classes. For a mid-sized Greek owner, 21 units under construction represents a heavy capital commitment across cycles — gas, tankers and boxes rarely peak together.

What it means for the market

For Ulsan, the contract adds confirmed revenue to a 2029 delivery book that Korean yards have been filling steadily. For LNG charterers, one more two-ship owner in 2029 changes little on its own; the signal matters only if other owners who sat out the wave follow Thenamaris back in.

The caveat is the one the filing cannot answer: at $247m per vessel and a 2029 delivery, the deal is a wager on where LNG freight sits six years out — and no disclosed charter arrangement has yet been attached to it.