Teekay’s and China Shipping LNG’s jointly-owned Arc7 carrier has entered the Damen repair yard in Brest, France after it recently sustained damage during a voyage via the Northern Sea Route.
The 172,400-cbm 2019-built Nikolay Yevgenov suffered damage in January to one of its three 15-MW azipods while traveling through the NSR without ice-breaker assistance.
However, the vessel continued its voyage and delivered a cargo from Novatek’s Yamal LNG project in Russia to South Korea, after it departed to Brest via the Suez Canal route.
Teekay Gas chief executive Mark Kremin told analysts on Thursday during the firm’s fourth-quarter conference call that the ice-breaking LNG carrier “got some damage” on one of the pods which the vessel uses for propulsion.
He said the ship would enter the yard on Friday, February 26, for repairs. The vessel’s AIS data on Monday confirmed it entered the yard four days ago.
No impact to the owners
Kremin said he expects no impact from the incident to the owners.
“The vessel is insured. And as far as deductibles go, we actually are currently not expecting that there’d be any liability for the owners,” he said.
In addition, the CEO said he expects the vessels’ repairs to complete over the next couple of weeks, prior to its return to work for the Novatek-operated Yamal LNG project in the Russian Arctic.
Milestone NSR transit
Nikolay Yevgenov serves the giant LNG project under a long-term contract, such as its sister vessel Christophe de Margerie, owned by Sovcomflot, which also completed the NSR route in January-February but with no damage.
This voyage marked the first time in history that a large-capacity vessel completed a transit passage along the eastern part of the Arctic in January-February, according to Novatek.
Moreover, Novatek and Sovcomflot are planning to open the upcoming NSR navigational season earlier in either April or early May as they work towards year-round LNG voyages via the route.