South Korea: MOL, COSCO name new Yamal LNG carrier

A naming ceremony for an ice-breaking LNG carrier, jointly owned by Japan’s MOL and China COSCO Shipping, was held on Tuesday at South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering.

The name of the 172,000-cbm LNG carrier “Vladimir Vize” was chosen in honor of the Russian Arctic explorer and oceanologist, MOL said in a statement.

The 299m long Vladimir Vize is the sister vessel of the Vladimir Rusanov, which started to ship the fuel for Novatek’s Yamal LNG export project in Russia at the end of March 2018 under a long-term charter contract.

The Vladimir Vize is also scheduled to go into service for the Yamal project following its delivery at the end of September, the statement said.

The third ARC7 LNG carrier for the MOL and China COSCO Shipping’s fleet that will sail under the long-term Yamal charter deal “has been progressing as planned in DSME, and the vessel is expected to be delivered to the Yamal LNG project in the next year,” MOL said.

Furthermore, the construction of the four 174,000-cbm conventional LNG carriers that will serve the Yamal project, also jointly owned by MOL and COSCO, is proceeding.

Construction of these four vessels is expected to be completed in 2019-2020, MOL said.