Novatek’s Yamal LNG project, the first of its kind in the Arctic, came online in December 2017. The company relies on a fleet of fifteen icebreaking Arc7 LNG carriers – owned and operated by its shipping partners Sovcomflot, Dynagas, Teekay, and MOL – to transport product from the Yamal peninsula to the marketplaces in Europe and Asia.
The first-generation Arc7 ice-class LNG carriers were designed to transport LNG to Asia via the NSR only during the summer months. During winter, when Arctic sea ice remained too challenging, the company’s plan was to ship its LNG to Europe where sea ice is much less of an issue.
However, this economic and technical equation is now rapidly changing. With this month’s test voyages Novatek is inching closer to its goal of shipping LNG to Asia year-round.
“After years of gaining experience, the operators now feel confident that they can safely push the seasonal envelope of Arctic shipping,” explains Snider of Martech. It is, however, important to understand what they are trying to accomplish and what they are not.
“They are not attempting to run across the top of the Arctic ocean, they are operating in regions that are predominantly only first year ice,” Snider elaborates.
Each experimental voyage allows mariners to increase their confidence in the ship’s design and operational capability, and enhances the level of experience of the crew. They also build credibility with Russian authorities which have to sign off on all traffic on the Northern Sea Route.
The current winter transit is also not the first test voyage. In 2020, Sovcomflot’s Christophe de Margerie, the lead Arc7 LNG carrier, conducted a trial voyage to Asia in May – a full two months earlier than previous voyages. In that case, however, the ship traveled with nuclear icebreaker escorts.
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