Tag: Northern Sea Route

Amid a public debate around container shipping in the Arctic, Geneva-based shipping giant MSC has doubled down on its position to avoid considering the Northern Sea Route, on environmental grounds.

Russia’s energy ministry said that the blocked Suez Canal highlights the safety and sustainability of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and Russian energy pipelines.

The LNG carrier Christophe de Margerie is currently completing its experimental round trip voyage. For the first time in history, a large-capacity cargo vessel is transiting the eastern sector of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) in February.

Shrinking Arctic ice made this year’s navigation season for LNG tankers the longest on record, benefiting LNG trade, but acting as the latest sign of a deteriorating climate change. 

The Arc7 ice-class  LNG tanker, "Christophe de Margerie" successfully transited the Eastbound ice-covered part of the Northern Sea Route.

The Russian government through its Northern Sea Route development plan, which was also approved and signed by the Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev before the end of 2019, aims to give a boost to annual shipments on the Northern Sea Route to 80 million metric tons by 2024.

Russia’s largest and most powerful nuclear-powered icebreaker returned from its stage one of sea trials prior to its planned delivery in May 2020. Namely, Arktika, which is still under construction at Russia’s Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg, departed St. Petersburg on December to the Gulf of Finland, returning two days later after completing testing of the ship’s generators, navigation and communications systems. 

In fact, Yamal LNG announced the operational start of its new Arc7 ice-class LNG tanker Yakov Gakkel- the fifteenth and final of the Arc7 ice-class tankers built specifically for the Yamal LNG Project, according to a recent statement. Namely, the “Yakov Gakkel” has loaded the 354th LNG cargo in the port of Sabetta and is now set to China.

Rosatom is completing the legal process of acquiring a non-controlling interest in logistics firm Delo Management Company, to further solidify its position in the Arctic. On the basis of Rosatom’s logistics assets and the assets of Delo Asset Management, it is planned to create a new Arctic container line. 

MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company has decided not to use the Arctic as a new short cut between northern Europe and Asia and will instead focus on enhancing environmental performance on existing global trade routes.