Vladimir Rusanov LNGC Opens NSR

The Vladimir Rusanov LNG carrier has shipped a cargo from the Yamal LNG export terminal eastwards to the Chinese port of Tianjin, the Yamal project's operator Novatek said on July 25. It marks the first journey along NSR in this year’s summer navigation season.

According to Novatek, the Arc7 ice-class vessel traversed the ice-covered section of the journey in only six days, setting  a record time for ships carrying cargo along NSR without ice-breaking support. The overall trip to Tianjin took 16 days to complete, or less than half the time it would have taken to transport LNG from Yamal to China via the Suez Canal and the Strait of Malacca.

“For the second year in a row, our Arc7 ice-class LNG tankers were once again the first ships to open the summer navigation period via the Northern Sea Route,” Novatek’s deputy chairman Lev Feodosyev said. “We will continue to optimise our logistical model to ensure competitive LNG supplies to key global consuming markets.”

Vladimir Rusanov is jointly owned by China's Cosco Shipping and Japan's Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), and began working at Yamal LNG under a long-term charter contract last year. MOL and Cosco held a naming ceremony on July 18 for a sister vessel called Nikolay Urvantsev.