Russian tanker heavyweight Sovcomflot has claimed another spot in the Arctic shipping history books.
Its new shuttle tanker, the 42,000-dwt Shturman Ovtsyn (built 2016), passed through the Northern Sea Route over the Christmas and New Year holidays.
It undertook the voyage with assistance from the Atomflot icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy, with the convoy becoming the first to undertake such a voyage in late December.
ZPMC Red box’s 28,900-dwt Audax (built 2016) and the 9,100-dwt Arctic-1 (built 2001), owned by Reskom of Russia, also made the trip.
The Shturman Ovtsyn, which was only launched a couple of months ago, began the journey in the Bering Strait on 21 December, arriving in the Kara Sea, 2,400 nautical miles away, on 3 January.
It has since continued to Cape Kamenny in the Gulf of Ob for loading.
“The convoy’s voyage through the Northern Sea Route took place in the thick of the polar night and under complex ice conditions,” Sovcomflot said.
“In particular, in the East Siberian Sea, the convoy had to sail through heavy-to-break first-year ice (breccia) with multi-year ice inclusions, ridging up to 4 points and a maximum 3 points under compression.”
