OREANDA-NEWS. September 08, 2010. On 6 September 2010 at 11:45am Moscow time the tanker SCF Baltica (117,000 dwt and ice class 1A-Super (Arc5), owned by the Sovcomflot (SCF) Group arrived at the port of Ningbo (People's Republic of China). This successfully completed the tanker’s voyage transporting 70,000 tonnes of gas condensate (delivery from OJSC Novatek), from the ports Vitino and Murmansk along the Northern Sea Route.

It took about 22 days for the ship to cover the distance from Murmansk to Ningbo, which even taking into account that the voyage was experimental, meant it was twice as fast as the traditional routes for ships navigating via the Suez Canal.

From 17 to 27 August 2010 the tanker SCF Baltica safely passed via the Northern Sea Route from Cape Zhelaniya (Novaya Zemlya Island) to Cape Dezhnev, including technical anchorage at the port of Pevek. She covered 2,500 nautical miles at an average speed of 10 knots. The tanker sailed through the traditional shipping lanes of the Northern Sea Route along rather shallow areas, including the Sannikov Strait. To pass these parts of the route safely the tanker’s draught and speed were reduced.

In future, new high-latitude deep-sea routes, which are to the North of the Novosibirsk Islands, will allow the passage of ships with a draught of more than 15 metres. These routes will increase the economic efficiency of the delivery of cargo to the ports of the South East Asia, via the Northern Sea Route by using large vessels and by saving additional time, as the experimental voyage of SCF Baltica has demonstrated.

The Sovcomflot Senior Executive Vice-President Evgeny Ambrosov commented: “Taking into account the results of the voyage, our experts at Sovcomflot, together with the structural units of Rosatom and Russia’s Ministry of Transport, will adjust the previous risk assessment related to navigating along the Northern Sea Route, and the factors which are to be taken into account for future voyages. These include the voyages of an Arctic Panamax shuttle tanker of 70,000 dwt and ice class Arc6, and a Suezmax tanker of 162,000 dwt and ice class Arc4, scheduled for 2011. The company is checking the possibilities of widening the time limits for Arctic navigation and increasing the quantity of cargo shipped.”

The Captain of the tanker Alexander Nikiforov said, “The voyage went smoothly. In general, the weather conditions were favourable. A system of navigational safety measures for the passage of SCF Baltica, the largest ship to ever navigate along the Northern Sea Route, was applied in cooperation with the headquarters of maritime operations in the Western sector of the Arctic. The escort by nuclear-powered icebreakers was provided by FGUP Atomflot. The icebreakers escorted the tanker in the icy areas of the Laptev Sea and the East-Siberian Sea, where 90-100 percent of the surface is covered with ice some of which is more than two metres thick in certain places.”

The management of SCF Group congratulated the Captain and the crew on the successful completion of the voyage.