Two newly delivered ships are undertaking a pioneering voyage through the Northern Sea Route without icebreakers, before they begin work exporting cargoes from Russia’s Yamal LNG project.
The two newbuildings are Dynacom’s MR2, 51,400-dwt shuttle tanker Boris Sokolov and Dynagas’ 172,000-cbm LNG carrier Boris Davydov.
Both are due to arrive on 20 January at Sabetta, the new LNG terminal on the Yamal Peninsula in Russia’s Far East, according to the Northern Sea Route Administration (NSRA).
Boris Sokolov was delivered from China’s Guangzhou Shipyard International during December and will carry condensate exports from the Yamal project.
The voyage is among the first to be undertaken outside of summer by tankers transitting the Northern Sea Route.
AIS data shows the ships are not being accompanied by icebreakers.
The ice-breaking vessels have been built with Arc7 ice class, enabling them to sail unassisted through sea ice up to two metres thick.
Latest AIS data shows both vessels are sailing off the Lyakhovsky Islands at a rate of 7 knots, with the smaller tanker following in the LNG carrier’s wake.
As TradeWinds reported previously, on 24 December the LNG carrier was forced to make an unscheduled return on its delivery voyage to the DSME shipyard, which delivered the ship earlier that month.
No reason for the seven-day stop at the shipyard has been disclosed.
Boris Davydov is the ninth of 15 specialist Arc7 LNG carriers ordered by shipowners against long-term timecharters with Yamal Trade.
The first Arc7 for the company — the Boris Vilkitsky — sustained damage to its azipods during operation in ice shortly after delivery and required repair work.
Dynagas will take delivery of a further five Arc7 LNG carriers from DSME during 2019.
