Russkis blow through Northern Sea Route in record time
Christophe de Margerie broke up to 5-feet of ice on her way through the NSR, making an average of 14 knots, which is pretty good for an LNG vessel the size of an aircraft carrier.
Lloyds reports that a Sovcomflot icebreaking LNG carrier zipped 2,193 nautical miles through the passage along the Russian Arctic coast from Cape Zhelaniya of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago to Cape Dezhnev at Chukotka, Russia’s easternmost continental point in six days, 12 hours and 15 minutes without any escort icebreakers.
As such, the route is reportedly 30 percent faster for goods from Asia to Europe than the more traditional Suez route and trades Somali pirates and Yemeni missiles for polar bears and the possibility of being locked in the ice until you go mad.
The SCF-owned, Cyprus-flagged Christophe de Margerie is brand new and weighs in at 128,806 grt, with an overall length of 981-feet.