Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering said Wednesday it has inked a 2.09 trillion won ($1.46 billion) contract to build seven eco-friendly ships.

KSOE, the world’s biggest shipbuilder by order backlog, signed contracts with Denmark-based integrated logistics company Maersk and Excelerate Energy, for six 17,000 TEU methanol-powered large container ships and one 170,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas-floating and regasification unit (LNG-FSRU) respectively.

Under the deal, Hyundai Heavy Industries, a KSOE affiliate, will construct the large container ships in the southeastern city of Ulsan and deliver them to Maersk by 2025.

These container vessels operate with dual-fuel methanol engines that significantly reduce emissions of pollutants compared to conventional ship oils.

With the addition of six methanol-powered ships, Maersk will be reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 2.3 million tons per year.

The LNG-FSRU will also be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in UIsan and be delivered to Excelerate Energy by 2026.

The LNG-FSRU is another eco-friendly ship that vaporizes LNG and delivers natural gas through specially designed offshore facilities.

"It is meaningful in that we have proved our competitiveness by winning a series of orders for methanol-powered container ships based on our differentiated technology. We expect additional LNG-FSRU orders will be followed in the near future as clients face LNG supply shortage due to the Russia-Ukraine war,” said an official from KSOE.

KSOE is a sub-holding company in charge of Hyundai Heavy Industries’ shipbuilding and offshore business.