The ship will be named after Sergey Witte

Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex (Bolshoy Kamen, Primorsky Territory) says it has laid down yet another icebreaking LNG tanker of ARC 7 class.

The ceremony has been held in the shipyard’s dry dock.

The third ship will be named after Sergey Witte, Russia statesman, financier, pioneer of Russian industrialization.  

The contract for building a series of 15 Arctic gas carriers of ARC7 class was signed by SSK Zvezda and companies of VEB.RF group in December 2019 – Juy 2020. The steel-cutting ceremony for the lead ship in the series was held in November 2020. The key sponsor of the project and the freight charterer is NOVATEK.

Zvezda is the first Russian shipyard to implement projects on construction of such ships. Icebreaking LNG tankers of ice-class Arc7 are designed to transport liquefied natural gas and can perform in severe climate conditions. They can break through ice of up to 2.1 meters thick. The length of the vessel is 300 m, width 48.8 m, deadweight – 81,000 t. The capacity of the gas carrier’s power plant is 45 MW.

The tanker will be fitted with the Mark III membrane containment system designed by Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT). In July 2020, Zvezda signed a technical assistance and licensing agreement with the French engineering company Gaztransport & Technigaz, which specialises in developing and licensing the construction of cryogenic membrane systems for LNG transportation and storage, obtained an international licence and became the only Russian shipyard that can build LNG carriers with the Mark 3 membrane storage system.

The ship will be also equipped with three unique PODs. To design and manufacture electric steerable thrusters for ice class ships, Sapphire Applied Engineering and Training Centre LLC was established in Saint-Petersburg as a joint venture of General Electric and Rosneft Oil Company as well as Sapphire plant in Bolshoy Kamen.

Photo from the site "Zvezda"
Source: PortNews