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Yamal Arc7 vessels begin maintenance

  • Market: Natural gas
  • 20/09/19

The first Arc7 ice-class LNG carrier of the 16.5mn t/yr Yamal LNG project, the 172,600m³ Christophe de Margerie,has begun dry docking.

The procedure marks the start of the maintenance period for the Arc7 vessels attached to the project, indicating that its shipping capacity could tighten in the coming months.

The Christophe de Margerie arrived at the Fayard shipyard in Denmark for the works on 11 September, having delivered to Spain's Huelva terminal at the start of the month.

Yamal Arc7 vessels, all of which have a 172,600m³ capacity, are required to undergo dry docking at intervals of around 30 months under their charter agreements, market participants said. The procedure requires 25-35 days. Shipowner Teekay, which also owns six Arc7 vessels chartered to the Yamal project, dry docks its non-ice classification LNG carriers every five years.

This would mean that another three Arc7 vessels attached the Yamal project may also have to be dry docked by July 2020.

Only Arc7 vessels can load at the project's Sabetta port during the winter period, with lower ice-class carriers unable to make passage through the ice in the Gulf of Ob, restricting Yamal's shipping capacity.

But Yamal's ice-class shipping capacity appeared to be ample through 2019, despite the facility operating above capacity and multiple weather-related delays at its transshipment location in Honningsvag, Norway.

And in October the project is set to receive its 14th Arc7, the Georgiy Ushakov, which left South Korean shipbuilder DSME's Okpo shipyard on 17 September declaring for a 14 October arrival at Sabetta. The last Arc7 to be delivered to Sabetta — the Nikolay Urvantsev — waited offshore the port for 12 days before loading its first cargo.

The last of the 15 Arc7s on Yamal's orderbook — the Yakov Gakkel — is set to be delivered to shipowner Teekay in late November.

Arc7 vessel dry docking deadlines
Arc7 vesselFirst loadingDry docking deadline*
Christophe de Margerie09 Dec 17Jun 20
Boris Vilkitsky22 Dec 17Jun 20
Fedor Litke28 Dec 17Jun 20
Eduard Toll17 Jan 18Jul 20
Vladimir Rusanov27 Mar 18Sep 20
Rudolf Samoylovich07 Sep 18Mar 21
Vladimir Vize22 Oct 18Apr 21
Georgiy Brusilov09 Dec 18Jun 21
Boris Davydov27 Jan 19Jul 21
Nikolay Zubov28 Feb 19Aug 21
Nikolay Yevgenov06 Jun 19Dec 21
Vladimir Voronin16 Aug 19Feb 22
Nikolay Urvantsev04 Sep 19Mar 22
Georgiy UshakovTBCTBC
Yakov GakkelTBCTBC
* based on a 30 month dry docking requirement under charter agreements

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