LNG Tanker Eduard Toll Sets New Record through Northern Route at Arctic’s Coldest Time

FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

LNG Tanker Eduard Toll Sets New Record through Northern Route at Arctic’s Coldest Time

Feb. 15, 2018 (EIRNS)—A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker, the Eduard Toll, has made its way to complete both its first loading at Sabetta Terminal, on Yamal Peninsula, Siberia, and first discharge at the Breton port of Montoir, France.

“This marked a major milestone for shipping in the Arctic, as this was the first time a shipping vessel made independent passage, without the support of an ice breaker, during this time of year,”

Hellenic Shipping News reported today.

Eduard Toll, named after Eduard Gustav von Toll, a Russian geologist who explored far-flung reaches of northern Siberia at the beginning of the 20th century, is the fourth of the new Arc7 class of icebreaking LNG tankers built for the Yamal LNG project.

“The vessel’s ice navigation capabilities will cut down the shipping time between the plant in the Russian far north and Asian customers by nearly a month. Without these groundbreaking ships, [Russian gas producer] Novatek would have to ship its products westward, around Europe, then east through the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea to reach Japan and South Korea,”

explained Hellenic Shipping News.

The Bermuda-based Teekay recently took delivery of the Eduard Toll, the first of six icebreaking LNG carriers that it is chartering to Sovcomflot for Novatek’s Yamal LNG plant.