The first Russian gas carrier is trying the Northern Sea Route: and not everything is going smoothly with the icebreaker

The first gas carrier built in Russia went to Arctic LNG—2 along the Northern Sea Route. Outside the navigation season on the route, an advanced ice—class vessel is accompanied by an icebreaker and does it carefully - with stops. Previous passages of LNG tankers of this class have not always been completed without breakdowns.

After the delivery to Sovcomflot at the Zvezda Far Eastern shipyard, the LNG tanker Alexey Kosygin went to Arctic LNG — 2 and the ship chose the shortest route — along the Northern Sea Route.

The gas carrier has an arch7 ice class and the vessel is accompanied by the Arctic icebreaker, which met the tanker at the Bering Strait. Judging by the AIS data, the vessels passed a little more than 120 miles in the Chukchi Sea and had to make a stop — even with a small departure.

What is the reason for this is unknown. It is known that earlier gas carriers of a similar ice class serving Yamal LNG had already made crossings along the Northern Sea Route outside the navigation season and not all were completed without power plant breakdowns.

Perhaps that's why the caravan is moving cautiously. According to the Glavsevmorput ice situation maps, the vessels passed the young ice zone and stopped in front of the one-year ice zone. At the same time, the icebreaker "Arctic" resumed its journey. Obviously, "Alexey Kosygin" will follow.

The gas carrier became the first vessel of its kind and class built in Russia — at the Zvezda shipyard.

On December 29, Sovcomflot announced that a large-tonnage LNG carrier had left Bolshoy Kamen Bay in the Far East and was on its first voyage along the Northern Sea Route to work as part of the Arctic LNG-2 project.

Arctic LNG —2 is serviced by nine gas carriers and only one of them has an arch7 ice class — Christophe de Margery." Now the sanctions project has another ice-class tanker. The absence of such vessels on the project complicates the export of LNG. For example, at the neighboring Yamal LNG, the project is serviced by 12 ice-class gas carriers. Previously, they included "Christophe de Margerie", has not yet been sanctioned.

As EADaily reported, the closure of navigation on the Northern Sea Route did not stop the supply of LNG from Russia's second Arctic project, which fell under direct US sanctions. Gas carriers went to Asia through Europe.

The scheme of work is something like this: an ice-class tanker delivers LNG from the Gydan Peninsula to a storage facility near Murmansk, where there is clean water. From there, traditional gas carriers carry cargo to end users in China.

The second Arctic project was launched in December 2023, but the US imposed sanctions on the eve and the project could not find end users until August of this year, when direct deliveries to China began.

According to Bloomberg, deliveries became possible after China created a system for regular purchases of LNG from the sanctions project. The Chinese authorities have identified a terminal in Beihai for receiving sanctioned cargo, the agency wrote.

"By choosing a single port with a limited international presence, Beijing will be able to protect its gas sector from retaliatory measures," the agency reported.