Sovcomflot’s LNG-fueled duo completes NSR passage

Two LNG-powered large-capacity Sovcomflot tankers have completed voyages eastbound along the Northern Sea Route (NSR).

Sovcomflot said on Monday that the two vessels in question were the Mendeleev Prospect and Lomonosov Prospect.

Lomonosov Prospect reached Cape Dezhnev, the easternmost end of the NSR, on October 16 while the Mendeleev Prospect did the same three days later.

Both vessels, bound for China with a cargo of crude oil from the Port of Primorsk, crossed the full length of the NSR using only LNG fuel.

The vessels completed the voyage from Cape Zhelaniya to Cape Dezhnev, equal to over 2,000 nautical miles, in 7 days and 20 hours and 7 days and 5 hours, respectively. Due to favorable ice conditions, both vessels traveled the entire length of the NSR without an icebreaker escort.

Sovcomflot is steadily introducing LNG as a fuel for large-capacity cargo shipping in the Arctic. In October 2018, Lomonosov Prospect crossed the NSR westbound, testing the operation of the ship engines and controls of the fuel systems using LNG during the voyage.

In 2019, Sovcomflot had three of his LNG-fuelled tankers cross the NSR eastbound – Korolev Prospect in September 2019, Lomonosov Prospect, and Mendeleev Prospect in October 2019 – and one such tanker westbound.

Currently, Sovcomflot has six LNG-fuelled oil tankers in operation, all delivered in 2018 and 2019. The lead ship of the series is the Gagarin Prospect. Each 113,000-dwt tanker is assigned an ice-class of 1A/1B, with a length of 250 meters and a breadth of 44 meters.