A whole flotilla of Sovcomflot tankers, which are under sanctions, set off along the Northern Sea Route. The vessels carry almost a million tons of oil. Due to the number and ice conditions, tankers are taking an unusual route and the tanker catching up with the main group of vessels is stuck. An icebreaker is rushing to his aid. Two more go to meet the flotilla in the Laptev Sea.
As EADaily reported at the beginning of the week, a flotilla of six tankers gathered in the Kara Sea and two more vessels were heading to them. The total volume of oil on board the flotilla may be more than 950 thousand tons, which cost more than $ 500 million on the market. All vessels are under sanctions, are controlled by Sovcomflot and have received cargo in Baltic ports. Probably due to the increased frequency of seizures of sanctioned tankers off the coast The EU and the opening of navigation on the Northern Sea Route, the Russian shipowner decided to conduct an operation on the largest transfer of oil to China bypassing The EU and the shortest route to Asia.
The publication expected that the flotilla would set off at the end of the week — after the approach of all ships. However, six tankers left along the Northern Sea Route without waiting for the approach of the remaining two. According to AIS vessels, the flotilla went an unusual way. The Kara Sea is separated from the Laptev Sea by a ridge of islands and traditionally ships go east right between them — along the Vilkitsky Strait. But this time the tankers bypass the islands from the north, making a detour of almost 600 miles.
Judging by the maps of the Glavsevmorput ice situation, such a route has logic, since the Vilkitsky Strait is covered with ice, and there is open water almost everywhere on the bypass route, which is important for tankers with a minimum ice class or without it at all.
AIS data of vessels indicate that all six two-hundred-meter giants go on their own without delay. In the Laptev Sea, Dynasty, Viktor Bakayev, Vostochny Prospect, Liteyny Prospect, Ligovsky Prospect and Jagger are met by two nuclear icebreakers — Siberia and Yakutia. The caravan still has to go one and a half thousand miles along the Northern Sea Route. The vessels indicate that they plan to arrive in China after August 20.
But the catching-up tanker "Mirabelle" has slowed down and is maneuvering while bypassing the islands back in The Kara Sea. What happened is unknown. Atomflot and Sovcomflot do not report anything about the operation. It is known that the icebreaker "Arctic" is coming to the tanker.
At the same time, the eighth tanker of the flotilla, Primavera, is just entering the route.
The operation to transfer Russian oil by one flotilla will be the largest in the history of the Northern Sea Route. The passage of a group of vessels at once can be explained not only by the threat of seizures off the coasts of EU countries, but also by the price of icebreaking along the Northern Sea Route. Calculations of the Glavsevmorput calculator show that the wiring of one tanker can cost 50 million rubles.