And as a side note, the U.S.and Canada do not have icebreakers powerful enough to break through 4.5 meter ice and only a handful of the Russian nuclear ships can do it.
By comparison the Eduard Toll was encountering 1.8 meter thick ice on its maiden run last January and the ARC - 7 class is supposed to be able to handle the 2.1 meter thick stuff which makes them pretty good icebreakers in their own right.
From The Barents Observer:
The «Vladimir Vize» and «Rudolf Samoylovich» will boost the Arctic out-shipment capacity of natural gas producer Novatek by almost 30%.
The two powerful ships are now both on the Northern Sea Route en route to and from natural gas terminal Sabetta. While the «Vladimir Vize» has picked up LNG in Sabetta and is on its way towards Asian markets, the «Rudolf Samoylovich» early this week passed the Kara Gate south of archipelago Novaya Zemlya, information from the Northern Sea Route Administration says.
The ships are owned by companies Teekay and MOL and COSCO respectively and both built by the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in South Korea. They are the 6th and 7th vessels in a total fleet of 15 vessels that for the next decades will shuttle to Sabetta, the terminal serving the Yamal LNG project.
They add almost 30 percent out-shipment capacity for Novatek and its partners in the liquified natural gas project.
«Good luck and fair seas to Captain Ceprasovs and the crew in delivering a continued service of operational excellence to our customer for many years ahead,» Teekay says in a press release. The «Rudolph Samoylovich» is the company’s second of six Arc-7 carriers to be provided to the Yamal LNG project by 2020. Teekay’s first project carrier, the «Eduard Toll», set a new Arctic shipping record when it in early January 2018 sailed through the Bering Strait and all the way to Yamal.
According to Teekay, the «Rudolph Samoylovich» was delivered almost three months earlier than plans following a request from Novatek. It transited the Northern Sea Route after its delivery from the yard in Korea at the end of August....MOREPreviously:
October 10
Shipping/Natural Gas: "China Blinks First In LNG Face-Off With U.S."
...See for example Teekay who just took delivery of their second ice-breaking LNG carrier, the Rudolf Samoylovich which joins their Eduard Toll.
Mitsui Osk Lines (MOL) just took delivery of a similar ARC 7 class making seven or eight of these ships capable of breaking 1.8 metre ice hauling Yamal gas. There are two more on the way.
Sept. 17
China Launches Its First Domestically Built Icebreaker
Feb. 4, 2018
Arctic Doings: "Teekay’s New Icebreaking LNG Carrier ‘Eduard Toll’ Makes Historic Northern Sea Route Passage"
