Trader Gunvor has fixed an LNG carrier that has been converted into a floating storage unit for a delayed midscale liquefaction project in Russia.
Gunvor is understood to have taken on the 138,107-cbm Portovvy (ex-Excel, built 2003) for several months.
The vessel, which has been converted to serve as an ice-strengthened FSU for Gazprom’s delayed Portovaya LNG export plant near Vyborg, was this week heading for the Suez Canal after being gassed up in the Middle East.
Charterers had previously given the Portovvy something of a wide berth due to the ship’s ice belt, which limits the type of port calls it can make.
Plant delay
Portovaya had been due to start up this year but is now not expected to launch operations until mid-2020.
Separately, Gunvor is said to be trading another Russian specialist LNG vessel.
Reuters said the company fixed the Gazprom Marketing & Trading sublet floating storage and regasification unit — the 170,000-cbm Marshal Vasilevskiy (built 2018) — which is currently en route to the US to load a cargo at Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG.
The Marshal Vasilevskiy, which had been on a short charter to OMV Trading, was purpose-built by Gazpromflot as a strategic FSRU to serve the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
Charter hire
After its delivery last year, the Arc4 ice-class ship was offered out for short charter-hire periods.
Gunvor has strong historical links with Russian business.
Set up in 2000 by Russian-born Gennady Timchenko and Torbjorn Tornqvist of Sweden, the trader was initially focused on Russian crude exports but has since expanded its commodity base to become a more international trader.
Tornqvist now heads the company, which operates its ship chartering under Clearlake Shipping.
