Last December saw the float-out of the 488m-long hull of Shell's Prelude from Samsung Heavy Industries' yard in Geoje. Designed by Samsung in conjunction with Paris-headquartered engineering specialist Technip, Prelude is intended as the first of a series of similar vessels to be designed and built under a 15-year contract between Shell and the Samsung Technip consortium. The structure has been described as 'the largest ship afloat' and it towers over the AP Moller Triple-E ships that currently hold that title, and more recent orders for similar ships at Daewoo, Hyundai Heavy, and Hyundai Samho. However, as gigantic and sophisticated as the Prelude FLNG unit may be, it is not a ship in the traditional sense of the word.
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