The task of organizing year-round transportation along the Northern Sea Route will be solved with the use of 15 new, more efficient icebreaking gas carriers, which are currently under construction at the Zvezda shipyard.

Sovcomflot does not plan to perform new super-early or super-late experimental voyages along the Northern Sea Route, it has collected enough information. General Director of the group Igor Tonkovidov told reporters about it on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum.

 “We completed a program of super-early or super-late voyages in 2020-2021 using the LNG carrier Christophe de Margerie, and identified real opportunities and limitations on this route in May, January and February. At present, we have enough empirical data to assess the effectiveness of this transportation," he said.

Tonkovidov added that the task of organizing year-round transportation along the Northern Sea Route will be solved using 15 new, more efficient icebreaking gas carriers, which are currently under construction at the Zvezda shipyard. Earlier Tonkovidov said that according to the contract, the group is going to receive the lead ship of this series in March 2023.

"The design of the ships that were built for the Yamal LNG project provides for more active support from icebreakers... The new series of vessels is designed for more independent work. Year-round navigation in the eastern sector of the Arctic may begin after the delivery of the lead ship of the series. Additional experimental voyages will not provide us with new information," he concluded.

The Sovcomflot Group of Companies is one of the world's leading companies in the sea transportation of gas and oil, as well as servicing of offshore hydrocarbon production. Sovcomflot is involved in servicing major oil and gas projects in Russia and the world: Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 (Sea of Okhotsk), Varandey and Prirazlomnoye (Barents Sea), Novy Port and Yamal LNG "(Gulf of Ob, Kara Sea), Tangguh (Indonesia).

Resource: TASS