SwissChemGas, a liquefied petroleum gas trader and shipowner, has ordered two 93,000 cubic metre Very Large Ammonia Carriers from private Chinese shipbuilder Hengli Heavy Industries, according to a shipping brokerage report. The vessels are scheduled for delivery between 2028 and 2029, though the contract price has not been disclosed, and neither company has officially confirmed the order. SwissChemGas was founded in 1997 as SwissGas and operates as a subsidiary of Greek shipping company SwissMarine, which is primarily active in dry bulk shipping. The LPG trading arm scaled back operations before being reorganized and resuming activity in 2016. Hengli Heavy Industries has built up substantial capacity in the VLAC segment. Company data show that in the first seven months of 2026, global shipowners ordered 40 VLACs in total, with Chinese yards securing 26, or 65 percent, and South Korean yards taking 14, or 35 percent, marking the first time Chinese shipyards have outpaced their South Korean counterparts in this category. Hengli alone ranked first among individual shipyards worldwide with 14 VLAC orders in that period, and on 11 October it announced 11 new VLAC contracts secured within a single week across 88,000, 90,000 and 93,000 cubic metre specifications. The broader LPG carrier market is experiencing a surge in new orders. Clarkson's reported in mid-October that 2026 new orders for LPG carriers are on track to reach a record 8.5 million cubic metres of contracted capacity. Banchero Costa data show 84 LPG carriers ordered globally from January through September 2026, including 68 VLGCs/VLACs, with the VLGC/VLAC share of fleet capacity rising to 44.5 percent.