Russia builds its first large LNG ship for offshore testing

Recently, the first icebreaking LNG ship "Aleksey Kosygin" built by the Russian Red Star Shipyard (Zvezda) for the Arctic LNG 2 project began sea trials after leaving the factory.

This is the first large LNG ship completed and built by a Russian shipyard. After sea trials, the "Aleksey Kosygin" is expected to be put into operation in early 2025. The completion of the "Aleksey Kosygin" marks an important milestone for the Russian shipbuilding industry, successfully achieving the "national shipbuilding" of the high value-added LNG ship in the face of Western sanctions.

It is reported that the difficult construction work of the "Aleksey Kosygin" is mainly undertaken by Samsung Heavy Industries of South Korea. In October 2021, the ship's hull, including the cargo compartment, was towed to Red Star Shipyard. Afterwards, the ship completed the installation work of GTT's membrane type liquid cargo hold, as well as key equipment such as MAN and Wartsila propulsion components at Red Star Shipyard.

The Aleksey Kosygin is a 15 vessel Arctic LNG 2 project jointly built by Red Star Shipyard and Samsung Heavy Industries, consisting of 172600 cubic meters of Arc7 class ice breaking LNG bow ships. The series of ships was originally planned to be constructed in sections by Samsung Heavy Industries Juji Shipyard and transported together with related ship equipment to Red Star Shipyard for final assembly, launching, and outfitting operations.

In 2019, Red Star Shipyard signed a contract with Samsung Heavy Industries for the first five icebreaking LNG ships of the Arctic LNG 2 project, valued at approximately $1.5 billion. In 2020, the two parties signed orders for the segmented construction of 10 ships and the supply of ship equipment, totaling $2.5 billion, setting a historical record for the highest amount of a single new ship contract with Samsung Heavy Industries at that time.

However, after the outbreak of the Russo Ukrainian War and the impact of Western sanctions, Samsung Heavy Industries only delivered the hull sections and equipment of the first 5 LNG ships, and officially announced the termination of the construction of the last 10 LNG ships for Red Star Shipyard at the end of 2023. This means that Red Star Shipyard needs to complete the construction of LNG ships on its own. In addition, with foreign companies such as GTT withdrawing from all their operations in Russia, these ships have encountered difficulties in supplying core equipment.

In September 2023, the "Aleksey Kosygin" held a naming ceremony at the Red Star Shipyard, with Russian President Putin personally in attendance. At the naming ceremony, Putin stated that the development of the Arctic ice class fleet is of great significance to Russia, strengthening national and global energy security. "Developing such a fleet is of great significance to our Arctic power. This is necessary for implementing our country's long-term strategy of Arctic exploration, ensuring reliable transportation of the North Sea route and global transportation logistics routes, and strengthening energy security for our country and the world.

It is reported that after the "Aleksey Kosygin", the second ship in the series, the "Pyotr Stolypin", is also nearing completion and is expected to undergo sea trials in the coming months. The third ship, the "Sergei Witt", was launched in August last year, and the construction status of the remaining two hulls is unclear.