Yamal Arc7 vessels begin maintenance

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.