A group of nine vessels that were marooned for weeks in the ice in the waters of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) off the Russian coastline have been escorted in convoy westbound by an ice-breaker into open waters.
Russia's state atomic agency Rosatom said the 50,000-hp nuclear-powered icebreaker Taimyr (built 1989) completed the escort of seven vessels on 7 December.
It said that from the western edge of the Kara Sea the ships were able to move independently.
The convoy included Finnish owner ESL Shipping's 56,348-dwt bulker Kumpula (built 2012) which was en route westbound to Helsinki.
The 17,259-dwt tanker Vladimir Rusanov (built 1994) was also in the group.
The bulk of the convoy was made up of vessels carrying project cargo. These are heading to Arkhangelsk where they are scheduled to arrive this week.
Historic voyage
Rosatom said its 50,000-hp ice-breaker Vaygach (built 1990) started moving three vessels westwards from the port of Pevek on 22 November.
This convoy was joined by a further five ships on 25 November with one vessel moving off independently on 5 December.
The Taimyr took over the convoy on 6 December.
FSRU Atomflot general director Mustafa Kashka said: "This voyage will go down in the history of navigation in the waters of the Northern Sea Route."
Kashka praised the crew of Vaygach for their "professionalism", singling out the ice-breaker's captain Mikhail Goncharenko who was undertaking his maiden voyage on the vessel.
" .. he can rightfully be considered a worthy successor to the school of Arctic captains," Kashka said.
Goncharenko said: "We had to repeatedly change our sailing tactics. In this pilotage, all ships became part of one team.
"The captains understood the situation and performed our commands professionally. Keeping their distance, walking close with us was more difficult for them," he said. "They are not so used to walking."
Ban mulled
Rosatom said there are currently no ships in the water area of the NSR that need urgent icebreaker assistance.
Data tracking shows that the 172,600-cbm Arc7 LNG carrier Nikolay Zubov (built 2019) is en route westbound for Yamal LNG's Sabetta terminal where it is due to arrive on 13 December.
Tough ice conditions for the NSR set in earlier than in previous years taking operators by surprise and trapping ships that had missed their weather window.
At one point in November over 20 vessels were marooned in the ice.
Russia is trying to expand its ice-breaking capability as it moves to open up the NSR for year-round ship operations. But to date, the ice-breaker newbuildings ordered have been delayed and beset with technical issues.
This week Reuters reported that Russia is considering banning foreign vessels from shipping Russian energy cargoes via the NSR. The country may also ban them from icebreaking and coastal navigation.
Russian sources said this would restrict these activities to Russian-built vessels at a time when the country is trying to promote its domestic shipyards like the Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex.
A draft ban could be brought in from 1 March 2022, the reports said.
