The first of a series of ice-class LNG carriers set to transport cargo from the Yamal LNG project in northwest Siberia to Europe and Asia has been launched by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) in South Korea.
The vessel is the first of 15 specially-designed 170,000m3 Azipod powered LNG carriers built to icebreaking capability of ARC 7, making them most powerful icebreaking LNG carriers in the world. The ships will be used to ship LNG from Sabetta port located on the Yamal peninsula to Europe and Asia via the Northern Sea Route.
The first vessel is expected to be delivered late 2016.
The Yamal LNG project is expected to start in 2017 and is headed by Russian gas producer Novatek with partners CNPC and Total. Annual LNG production capacity is estimated at 16.5 million metric tons.
The LNG carriers are powered by ABB, providing the turbochargers, generators, switchboards, transformers, electric drives, propulsion control and the Azipod® propulsion units that will power the vessels through the arctic conditions.
Two sanctioned heavy-lift vessels carrying key top-side modules for Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project have arrived at Novatek’s Belokamenka construction yard after a journey of nearly 2½ months from eastern China, offering the clearest indication yet that work on the project’s long-stalled third production train could be resuming despite Western sanctions.
More than 100 lawmakers from the European Parliament and national legislatures across Europe have called on Denmark’s Fayard shipyard to immediately stop servicing specialized LNG carriers that transport Russian Arctic gas, intensifying pressure on the last European shipyard still maintaining the icebreaking vessels critical to Moscow’s Yamal LNG export project.
The Arc7 icebreaking LNG carrier Rudolf Samoylovich has arrived at Denmark’s Fayard A/S Odense yard for scheduled maintenance, highlighting the Danish facility’s unique role as the last remaining shipyard in Europe still servicing the specialized vessels that enable year-round exports from Russia’s Yamal LNG project.
July 2, 2026
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