Shipping’s 2009 accomplishment in sailing two of its vessels from Korea to Rotterdam via Russia’s Northern Sea Route attracted considerable attention, as the first-ever complete transit by non-Russian commercial ships. However, Russian and earlier Soviet
experience in this regard goes back many decades. Last summer, a new chapter in this
sphere of endeavour was written, when an Aframax tanker operated by Sovcomflot undertook a laden voyage from Murmansk to China, using the whole course of the Northern Sea Route. With an escort of Russian nuclear
icebreakers, the 115,000dwt SCF Baltica covered the 2500 nautical miles between Murmansk and Pevek ahead of schedule in 11 days, before proceeding with its 70,000tonnes condensate cargo to Ningbo, south of Shanghai. Te vessel’s Northern Sea Route transit took it through the Barents Sea, north of Cape Zhelaniya on Novaya Zemlya island, the Vilkitskiy Strait, the Taimyr ice field, the Sannikov Strait, Laptev Sea and the ice-covered East Siberian Sea. In addition, the brief Arctic summer
saw the landmark voyage of the 43,700dwt Nordic Barents, transporting 41,000tonnes of Norwegian iron ore to China via the Northern Sea Route, the first foreign-flag bulker to use the seaway as a transit trade lane. Russian-controlled shipping has gained
an entirely new dimension through the construction of two classes of diesel- electric shuttle tanker tailored to respective developments in the country’s Arctic waters. Te Vasily Dinkov series of three 70,000dwt tankers delivered by Samsung Heavy Industries to Sovcomflot has implemented the world’s first Arctic oil shuttle export system, undertaking shipments from the Varandey offshore terminal, a fixed structure in the Pechora Sea. The facility is fed from wells in the
Timan-Pechora region of northern Russia, and the crude oil is transferred to Murmansk for transhipment, or carried direct to foreign markets using the new breed of purpose-designed vessels. Vasily Dinkov and her two consorts embody the double-acting principle conceived by Aker Arctic Technology. Tey have been designed with the capability to maintain independent operation year-round on the Northern Sea Route, without the need for icebreaker assistance, creating the basis for an efficient, constant and high-productivity crude oil offtake pattern in the Arctic. Te charterer is field developer Naryanmarneftegaz, a joint venture between Lukoil-ConocoPhillips. Te second new class of diesel-electric
Arctic shuttle tanker made its debut in 2010 with the delivery of the 70,000dwt Mikhail Ulyanov from Admiralty Shipyards, followed by sistership Kiril Lavrov. Te pair is intended to become the mainstay of the traffic from the Prirazlomnoye platform in
the Pechora Sea, starting in 2011. Aker Arctic Technology provided the
basic hull design to the St Petersburg yard. Employing twin podded propulsion units and an aſt form optimised for icebreaking by running astern, the vessels meet owning group Sovcomflot’s requirements as regards independent navigation in most ice conditions with the requisite high level of manoeuvrability. Operation has been assigned to
SCF-Unicom on 25-year timecharters agreed between Sovcomflot and Sevmorneſtegaz, now Gazprom Dobycha Shelf. Crude will be shipped from Prirazlomnoye to a floating storage and offloading(FSO) unit off Murmansk, or direct to refineries in northern Europe or elsewhere. Shipping is crucial to the support of
Canadian mining operations within and just outside the Arctic Circle, and to the delivery of supplies to remote northern and eastern Canadian communities. Montreal-based Fednav’s pioneering role and involvement in ice-going bulk cargo transportation has been consolidated in recent years, including the introduction of the 31,500dwt bulker Umiak I to serve a year-round shipment contract bringing nickel concentrates out of the harsh environs of northern Labrador. An envisaged new Canadian Arctic
export traffic arises from a plan by Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation to mine iron ore on Baffin Island, in Nunavut Territory. Tis has led to sample shipments being liſted by Fednav bulkers to European steelmakers, and to design studies for a fleet of polar class ore carriers of up to 190,000dwt carrying capacity. Te Mary River project is reported to contain the world’s largest undeveloped deposits of high-grade iron ore, and Baffinland is looking eventually to an export volume of 18million tonnes annually for at least 25 years, with Europe potentially being the primary destination. NA
Fednav group’s 32,000dwt icebreaking bulker Umiak I, used to transport nickel concentrates from the Voisey’s Bay mine in northeast Labrador, seen in Anaktalak Bay (Photo courtesy of Voisey’s Bay Nickel Company).
The Naval Architect January 2011 59
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