A new ice-breaking liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker of the Arc7 class has begun sea trials by South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) around the island of Geoje, Refinitiv Eikon data shows.
The Nikolay Zubkov, formerly known as Hull DSME 2429, exited DSME's port on Geoje on Tuesday and has zig-zagged across the Korea Strait, the data showed. Ship trials for previous Arc7 carriers now in operation have lasted several months.
The Arc7 tankers, for Novatek's Yamal LNG facility in northern Russia, are able to cross the Northern Sea Route eastwards to Asia during the summer and westwards to Europe throughout the year without the help of ice-breaker ships.
Yamal has been starting up faster than planned with output only held back by the delivery of the tankers.
Once at full capacity of 17.5 million tonnes a year, Yamal will be one of the biggest LNG export plants in the world.
The table below shows the 15 ARC7 tankers on order and their status.
Reporting by Sabina Zawadzki