On July 18, South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) held a naming ceremony for an icebreaking LNG carrier jointly ordered by Japanese Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited.
The newbuilding has been named Nikolay Urvantsev, in honor of the famous Russian Arctic explorer and geologist.
The Nikolay Urvantsev is the sister vessel of the Vladimir Rusanov and Vladimir Vize , that started transport service in 2018 under a long-term charter contract to transport LNG for the Yamal LNG Project 1&2.
As informed, the Nikolay Urvantsev will also work for the Yamal LNG project following its delivery at DSME in July and icebreaking navigation without icebreaker support through the Northern Sea Route towards the Yamal LNG plant at Sabetta Port in Russia.
The 172,000 cbm newbuild features a length of 299 meters and a breadth of 50 meters.
The new LNG carrier not only has a high icebreaking capability of up to 2.1 meters but also a double-acting ice-breaking system to enable the vessel to navigate astern.
MOL informed that apart from the icebreaking LNG carriers, construction of the four conventional LNG carriers also intended for the Yamal LNG Project, has been progressing as planned.