Sovcomflot tanker starts first-ever fully LNG-fuelled Northern Sea Route pass

Sovcomflot’s LNG-fuelled Aframax crude oil tanker has started a transit through the Northern Sea Route.

Sovcomflot said that the Korolev Prospect tanker would become the first such large-capacity crude oil tanker to travel the entire length of the Northern Sea Route using only LNG fuel.

The tanker is delivering a cargo of crude oil from the port of Murmansk to China. The journey along the route from Cape Zhelaniya to Cape Dezhnev will take about eight days with the vessel moving at an expected average speed of 12 knots.

According to the company, the vessel will follow the ‘Tikhonov’ deep-water route that lies north of the New Siberian Islands while transiting from the Laptev Sea to the East Siberian Sea. The Tikhonov route was first opened for commercial shipping in 2011 by SCF’s tanker Vladimir Tikhonov.

At the moment, Sovcomflot has six LNG-fuelled crude oil tankers in operation, including Korolev Prospect, and five more under construction.

The vessel, delivered in February 2019, has a deadweight of 113,232 tonnes, a length of 250 meters, breadth of 44 meters, and an ice-class of 1A hull.