Tag: Northern Sea Route

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New Russian platforms are not safe for the Northern Sea Route

Leading Russian expert maintains New Russian oil platforms are not up for the task and shipping along the Northern Sea Route poses a great risk to Arctic nature, a leading Russian expert maintains.Talking at the international conference on Logistics in the Arctic, recently held in Murmansk, Mikhail Grigoriev claimed that new platforms built for operations in the Russian Arctic are insufficently well built.According to Grigoriev, an expert working for the science unit under the Russian Security Council, the two platforms built for the Shtokman project - the "Severnoye Siyanie" and the "Polyarnaya Zvezda", alone have about 700 flaws registered. The rigs, which formally were taken over by Gazprom-subsidiary Gazflot in 2011, are now based in the Far East. "When and how the flaws are to be eliminated, is incomprehensible," Rossiiskaya Gazeta quotes Grigoriev as saying. He believes the situation with the rigs is made more complicated with the continued postponments of the Shtokman project.Reportedly, Gazprom is now looking for a buyer for Gazflot and might hand over its ambitious vessel and rig development program to other companies.Grigoriev also voices concern about the quickly growing shipping along the Northern Sea Route. If an oil spill takes place half-way on the route, ...

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Shipping to double on Northern Sea Route

More than 1,5 million tons of goods will be shipped along the NSR More than 1,5 million tons of goods will be shipped along the Northern Sea Route in 2012, regional authorities in Murmansk say.While a total of 820,000 tons of goods was shipped along the Northern Sea Route in 2011, the volumes are expected to almost double in 2012, regional minister of Property Relations Yuri Chuykov said at theKirkenes Conference.In his presentation at the conference, Minister Chuykov underlined the key importance of the Northern Sea Route. While the goods volumes on the route in 2010 was only 111,000 tons, the volumes will in 2012 increase to more than 1,5 million tons, Chuykov said.In 2011, the number of vessels using the route in 2011 amounted to 34.Several regional industrial initiatives in Murmansk will benefit from the improved shipping conditions on the route. According to Chuykov, the project preparation of the railway line to the western shore of the Kola Bay as well as the planned oil and coal terminals in the area are about to be be completed.The first objects to be built on the western side of the bay are the new coal terminal, the oil terminal, as well ...

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Testing out LNG on Northern Sea Route

In the very near future we will conduct test sailing with LNG on the Northern Sea Route In the very near future we will conduct test sailing with LNG on the Northern Sea Route, Gazprom says.The shipping operations will be conducted together with Sovcomflot, Gazprom informs in a press release.In a meeting between Gazprom leader Aleksei Miller and Sovcomflot´s General Director Sergei Frank on Thursday, the two companies concluded that "the relevance of LNG shipping along the Northern Sea Route to the Asian-Pacific region in growing quickly"."With regard to gas exports to the region, the development of LNG production is an absolute priority in comparison with pipeline deliveries," Miller stressed. "Consequently, the deliveries of Russian LNG through the Northern Sea Route allows us to significantly reduce transportation costs, thus making the LNG highly competitive, he added.As previously reported, Gazprom is considering to export LNG from the Shtokman project to Japan. Also other companies are exploring the possibilities to ship LNG through the Northern Sea Route to the growing Asian markets, among them Statoil.Gazprom and Sovcomflot already have an extensive cooperation in the Arctic. In June 2011, the companies signed an agreement on Gazprom´s leasing of two new Arctic LNG carriers ...

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Northern Sea Route opens for Norwegian tanker

For the first time, Russian authorities have opened the NSR for a Norwegian tanker For the first time, Russian authorities have opened the Northern Sea Route for a Norwegian tanker, according to the Norwegian Ship Owners' Association.The Norwegian LNG-tanker "Ribera del Duerea Knutsen", which belongs to Knutsen OAS Shipping, a Norwegian shipping company in Haugesund, has been granted permission from Russia to sail the shortcut to Asia.The Northern Sea Route cuts the time it takes to get to Asia in half, and will both lower costs and reduce the threat from Somali pirates. The route extends from the Barents Sea, along Siberia to the Bering Strait, and then on to Japan or other Asian countries.For a tanker the journey will take approximately two weeks, about half the time it takes to travel through the Suez Canal. As a result of the icy conditions in the Arctic, the route can normally only be used from June to October, and even then ships have to be led by icebreakers.The Norwegian tanker is the only liquid natural gas tanker in the world that qualifies to travel through such waters. The Northern Sea Route opened for commercial shipping in 1991, but the first merchant ...

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34 vessels in transit on Northern Sea Route

Record number for Northern Sea Route This year's season on the Northern Sea Route was special in many ways. Not only was the route accessible about one month longer than usual, but is also had the highest number ever of vessels in transit from Murmansk to another country.According to operator of the nuclear icebreaker fleet Rosatomflot, 34 vessels have sailed the whole Northern Sea Route this year. The total cargo transported on the route is 820 000 tons. By comparison, in 2010 only four vessels used the route for transit to another country, and the total amount of cargo was 111 000 tons, Rosatomflot reports, according to RIA Novosti.15 of the 34 vessels transported liquid cargo (682 000 tons), three carried bulk (110 000 tons), four refrigerator ships transported salmon (27 500), two vessels transported general cargo and ten vessels sailed in ballast.2011 has been a years of records on the Northern Sea Route. The 162 000 dwt "Vladimir Tikhonov" became the first super tanker to sail the route, while the 75 600 dwt "Sanko Odyssey" became the largest ever bulk carrier to sail the NSR.The tanker Belgium owned "Perseverance" opened the sailing season on June 29, and later became ...

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Castrol Calls for Clarity on Polar Lubricants Usage

Polar shipping movements increase As Polar shipping movements increase, Castrol Marine suggests that greater attention should be paid to the environmental credentials of lubricants used on board in applications where there is a risk of leakages and discharges.Growing demand for effective shipping routes and cruises to previously inaccessible destinations has led vessels into increasingly sensitive marine areas.Exemplary is the increasing amount of seaborne traffic beginning to move along the Siberian coast. There are also hopes of opening up more of the North West Passage above Canada.The Northern Sea Route voyage is one-third of the distance of traditional routes through the Suez Canal, bringing with it lower fuel costs. Nordic Barents operator Nordic Bulk Carriers was recently reported as claiming that an Arctic voyage to Asia would save the company $180,000 in fuel costs over the equivalent journey via the Suez Canal.Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest nickel producer, carried ore to China and South Korea by the eastern part of the Arctic route last year. Two tankers owned by Murmansk Shipping loaded with petroleum recently moved through the ice-thinned passage from Murmansk to Chukotka in the Russian Far East. Again, Sovcomflot has also taken one of its 70,000dwt tankers from Russia ...

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Northern sea route cargo shipments on the rise

It is expected to reach 3 million tons - record volume since the late 1980's This year the cargo transportation of the Northern Sea Route (NSR), a shipping lane from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean along the Russian Arctic coast, is expected to reach 3 million tons, which is a record volume since the late 1980's, Andrei Smirnov, an official with the parent navigation company Rosatomflot said.In the late 1980's the cargo transportation volume on NSR amounted to 7 million tons. However, in the 1990's it declined almost five times down to 1.5 billion tons. Later the growth resumed and in 2010 the volume of cargo transportation reached 2.3 billion tons. The leap is explained by a number of factors, Smirnov says."Though the Northern sea route was open for foreign ships navigation 20 years ago, only in 2009 foreign ship-owners got interested in this route. Three foreign ships used the route and last year transit along the route already reached 100,000 tons. This year a Russian icebreaker has convoyed the Affinity tanker. It is likely that two-three more ships will sail the NSR this year. Many foreign shipping companies are interested in the transportation of cargos to Asia ...

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