Christophe de Margerie transit via the NSR

LNG tanker Christophe de Margerie has successfully passed the Northern Sea Route. The vessel had left the port of Hammerfest, Norway, on July 29 at around 5:00 a.m. and entered the NSR waters at Cape Zhelaniya on July 31 at 1:20 a.m. The transit passage took only 6,5 days. The tanker followed high latitude path that to the north of New Siberian Islands and left the NSR waters on August 6 at 2 p.m. It was one of the fastest transits, the time of the passage is comparable only with the passage of the icebreaker 50 let Pobedy in August 2016. The average speed of the tanker varied from 11 to 16 knots. Some speed reduction below 10 knots was noted in the north-east part of the Kara Sea and in the west part of the Laptev Sea. Before the vessel entered the NSR, its speed in the Barents Sea reached 20 knots.

The tanker continuous the voyage to destination port in South Korea, the arrival is expected on August 15 in the late evening.

Christophe de Margerie is the first LNG tanker with Arctic ice class that will work for Yamal LNG project. It has following technical characteristics:
Type: YAMALMAX, group: LNG CARRIERS,
Ice class: Arc7,
Temperature work limit: -52°C,
Icebreaking capability – 2,1 m, ice resistant belt: steel sheets of 70 mm,
Size: length – 299 m, beam – 50 m, hull height from keel – 26,5 m, draft loaded – 11,8 m,
GRT: 172,6 thous. m3,
DWT: 80200 t,
Operational speed: 19,5 knotes,
Constructed at: Daewoo Shipbuilding Marine Engineering (DSME),
Commissioned: March 2017,
Flag: Cyprus.