CMI Inks Licensing Deal with GTT for Membrane Technologies
French engineering firm GTT said it has signed a technical assistance and license agreement with China Merchants Heavy Industries-Jiangsu (CMHI-Jiangsu), a subsidiary of shipbuilding group China Merchants Industry Holdings (CMI), enabling the yard to construct vessels using GTT membrane technologies.
GTT and China Merchant Industry Holdings have been cooperating for a decade, with a first Technical Service Agreement signed in 2013 for the maintenance and repair of LNGCs. A cooperation agreement has also been initiated in 2016 for the evaluation of CMHI to implement GTT technologies. This Technical Assistance and License Agreement marks a new stage in the partnership between the two companies as the shipyard is now licensed for the construction of large capacity LNG carriers.
CMHI-Jiangsu began the licensing process earlier this year and obtained it at the mock-up completion ceremony held on October 10.
Philippe Berterottière, Chairman and CEO of GTT, said, “We are honored to carry on our collaboration with China Merchants Heavy Industries, one of the largest shipyards in China. We expect the new stage of this partnership to be a real success both in the LNG carrier construction and in the LNG fueled market as the shipyard is renowned for its variety of vessels constructions.”
Simple Hu, General Manager of China Merchants Industry Holdings (CMI), said, “We are delighted with the collaboration and the trust that the GTT Group has placed in us. We are already acquainted with GTT’s technologies and we are determined to consolidate our shipbuilding experience with these technologies for large LNG carrier, FSU, FSRU, FLNG, VLEC, as well as LNG fueled merchant vessels. We aim to further deepen our collaboration with GTT with our other shipyards as well.”