LNG transportation from Ob Bay in Russian Arctic will, in the future, focus on the west-bound route to Europe, and on the east-bound route to Asia along the Northern Sea Route. The new Arc7 design allows transportation all year round on this challenging itinerary.
In 2018, when Novatek announced that they wanted to explore year-round use of the NSR, Aker Arctic began to investigate how the first generation of LNG carriers could be improved in order to lower overall transportation costs.
A joint development project with Novatek was initiated, first with transit simulations for different vessel concepts, seeking the optimal solution for the new route and period of time, followed by design work for the improved vessel concept.
The design was finalized with DSME, who signed a shipbuilding contract with Sovcomflot and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines for the construction of six Arc7 LNG carriers based on the new design in October 2020. The first vessel was supposed to be ready in spring 2023, and the remaining five before the end of that year.
Read more about the next generation Arctic icebreaking LNG carrier in the article Year-round Arctic LNG carriers (Arctic Passion News 1/2021).
