Construction of an Arctic gas carrier for OAO Sovcomflot starts at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering
Construction of an Arctic gas carrier for OAO Sovcomflot is beginning under the survey of Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS).The ship is being built as part of Yamal LNG - a major Russian liquefied natural gas project being implemented in the Arctic, RS said in its press release.
The steel cutting ceremony for the pilot vessel was held on 29 September 2014 at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in South Korea. Head of the RS office in the Republic of Korea Alexander Yagodin took part in the event, along with representatives from OAO Sovcomflot.
The construction of RS class cutting edge Yamal LNG gas carriers is a new milestone in the development not only of the Russian classification society, but also of the entire maritime industry. This is the first time in international practice that such powerful gas carriers, adapted to navigation in heavy ice conditions, are being built. The vessels will be equipped with three Azipod thrusters with a capacity of 15,000 kW each, which is comparable to the power of nuclear icebreakers and will allow the gas carriers to transport gas along the Northern Sea Route. The principle of double action in heavy ice conditions makes it possible to select stern first as the primary mode of movement and to navigate through unbroken ice of up to 2.1 metres thick.
Initially it is planned to build 10 ships for this project, and the total number of vessels in the series should amount to 15 units. The series will be constructed to the dual RS/BV class, RS acting as the lead society. RS Class notation: KM✪ Arc7 [1] AUT1-ICS OMBO EPP ANTI-ICE LI CCO ECO-S BWM (ES) WINTERIZATION (-52) Gas carrier type 2G (methane). It is planned to put the first ship into operation in June 2016.
The Yamal LNG project involves creating the technical means for the production and processing of hydrocarbons, as well as a developed transport infrastructure based on the South Tambeyskoye condensate field. One of the key issues for the successful development of this project will be the organisation of efficient and safe transportation of gas in harsh ice conditions of the Northern Sea Route.
