On 16 January, Nantong Yangkou terminal received its 20th international LNG super tanker, Alma Feiya. The Qatar-registered vessel, 345 metres in length and 53.8 metres in width, carried 260,000 cubic metres of liquefied natural gas, about 130,000 tons. Late last year, on 16 November, the world’s biggest LNG super tanker, Bu Samra, also called at the terminal.

The LNG terminal, which cost Rmb6.5bn to build and has an annual receiving capacity of 3.5m tons of LNG, went into operation in May 2011. It became the fourth port in China to be capable of receiving LNG vessels, the others being Shanghai Yangshan, Fujian Putian and Shenzhen Yantian.

In February 2011, PYI, the Hong Kong-listed infrastructure investment company, cashed in most of its equity in the terminal by reducing its holding from 60 per cent to 9.9 per cent for Rmb1.51bn. At the time, PYI said it planned to use the proceeds of the sale to reduce debt and fund future investment in port projects along the Yangtze.