“Christophe de Margerie” delivered a consignment of LNG to China by one third faster than usual

On the 9th of June the gas carrier “Christophe de Margerie” successfully completed a commercial journey on delivery of a consignment of liquefied natural gas from the project “Yamal LNG” from the port of Sabetta to the port of Jiangsu (China). During the journey “Christophe de Margerie” successfully overcame the way on the Northern Sea Route in the eastern direction and became the first large-capacity vessel in history that had made such passage in May, when ice conditions in the eastern sector of the Arctic remained difficult. Traditionally, navigation in this part of the Northern Sea Route is opened only in July.

The duration of the journey was 21 days, the distance covered - 6047 nautical miles, the average speed - 11.7 knots, as the press service of Sovcomflot reports. Delivery of an analogous consignment of LNG on the traditional southern route via the Suez Canal takes about 34 days on average. Thus, extension of the navigation period in the eastern sector of the Northern Sea Route allowed decreasing the delivery time of cargo by more than one third.

During the journey a vast array of data was collected on the ice situation in the eastern sector of the Arctic. The data will be taken into account when planning logistics for future arctic projects and designing the next generation of arctic vessels.

In 2010-2011 Sovcomflot and NOVATEK jointly organized a series of experimental transit journeys along the Northern Sea Route. They proved technical feasibility and economic expediency of using it for large-capacity cargo transportations. These journeys laid the foundation for successful implementation of the project “Yamal LNG” and opened a new deep-water route to the north from the New Siberian Islands archipelago for commercial shipping.

In 2017 Sovcomflot commissioned the world’s first Arctic ice-breaking gas carrier “Christophe de Margerie”. This is the lead ship of the series of vessels designed for year-round transportation of liquefied gas under the project “Yamal LNG”. Its cargo capacity is 172600 cubic meters. The tanker is characterized with high icebreaking capability (ice class Arc7), maneuverability and power, what allows it to operate safely in extreme climate and ice conditions of high latitudes. The current journey has been the 45th one for “Christophe de Margerie” since the start of operations under “Yamal LNG”.