Russia Unveils Plans for First Domestically-Built LNG Carrier to Overcome Sanctions

Blocked from accessing western tech, Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) aims to construct the country’s first ice-class gas carrier. The company presented plans for the LNG carrier at the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum. Developed for Gazprom’s Baltic Ust-Luga facility, the design could easily be adapted for the needs of other Russian gas companies, including in the Arctic.

The lack of ice-capable vessels has been a major obstacle for full development of Russia’s Arctic gas projects. Six high ice-class LNG carriers remain undeliverable due to sanctions at South Korea’s Hanwha with a number of other contracts canceled. At the same time Moscow’s Far East shipyard Zvezda has struggled to complete and commission five LNG tankers built in cooperation with Samsung Heavy Industries.

The United Shipbuilding Corporation design relies on 90 percent domestic components for the construction. Key challenges will likely be propulsion units formerly supplied by ABB and the membrane by France’s GTT. In both instances USC says it will rely on Russian technology rather than western suppliers.

Russian company GTI has for the past several years been developing its own cryogenic containment system. The technology’s exact status is unknown, though the company says it has achieved 97 percent import substitution and it has sought type approval from the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS) ahead of serial production. 

Some of GTI’s designs may already have found application in the unfinished Zvezda gas carriers. GTI likely relies on tanker plywood produced by Russia’s Segezha Group for the insulation panels of LNG carriers. The product had previously been certified by France’s industry leader GTT. 

The USC gas carriers are modeled after the Yamal LNG carriers in size, each capable of carrying around 170,000 cubic meters of LNG. Instead of being built to a high Arc7 ice class, USC proposes a medium Arc4 classification, sufficient for year-round navigation in the Baltic Sea. With icebreaker escorts this type of vessel could also reach the Yamal and Arctic LNG 2 projects in the Russian Arctic during the majority of the year.

USC has vast experience building ice-class vessels having constructed the majority of Russia’s nuclear icebreakers via its Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg. But the timeline and chances for successfully constructing LNG carriers domestically remain doubtful. Russia’s shipbuilding sector has been plagued by delays, cost overruns and aging infrastructure. Ramp-up of domestic production of oil tankers and bulk carriers has been slow. 

Russia’s major oil development Vostok Oil – the largest since the 1980s – will require up to 40 ice-class oil tankers at full capacity. With the plant expected to come online in 2026 not a single vessel of the type has been completed at the Zvezda yard. 

Subscribe for Daily Maritime Insights

Sign up for gCaptain’s newsletter and never miss an update

— trusted by our 107,246 members