First LNG icebreaker sets transit record in Northern Sea Route

On 17 August 2017, Sovcomflot’s icebreaking LNG carrier “Christophe de Margerie” successfully completed her first commercial voyage, transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) through the Northern Sea Route (NSR) from Norway to South Korea.

During her voyage, the LNG carrier covered 2,193 nautical miles (4,060 km) from Cape Zhelaniya of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago to Cape Dezhnev at Chukotka, Russia’s easternmost continental point, proving her ability to operate in harsh, high-latitude environments.

According to the company, during the voyage, the vessel set a new time record for an NSR transit of just 6 days 12 hours and 15 minutes. Moreover, Christophe de Margerie has also become the world’s first merchant vessel to travel the full length of the NSR without any icebreaker escort.

    “The total time of the voyage from Hammerfest in Norway to the port of Boryeong in South Korea was 19 days, about 30 per cent faster than the regular southern route through the Suez Canal. This again demonstrates the economic potential of using the Northern Sea Route for large-capacity vessel transits”, the company noted in an official statement.

Christophe de Margerie is the world’s first and currently the only icebreaking LNG carrier. The vessel has been built to serve the Yamal LNG project and transport LNG year-round in the difficult ice conditions of the Kara Sea and Gulf of Ob.

The LNG carrier is named after Christophe de Margerie, the former CEO of Total, who played a key role in developing the investment decisions behind, and a technological basis for, the Yamal LNG project. He also made a major contribution to the development of Russo-French economic relations in general.