As the summer maintenance season has started, the first Arc7 ice-class gas carriers in service of the Yamal LNG project have arrived at the Fayard A/S shipyard in Odense. The 'Nikolay Urvantsev' (IMO: 9750660), chartered to Novatek’s Yamal LNG project, arrived at the drydock on June 26, 2025, and sailed around a week later. The Arc7 LNG carrier 'Fedor Litke, operated by Dynagas, arrived at the Fayard A/S yard on July 17, following a delivery at Dunkerque, and remained in drydock as of July 24. Repairs and maintenance schedules have been significantly condensed for the Arctic LNG carriers due to their harsh operating conditions along Russia’s Northern Sea Route. The Damen ship repair focuses on hull maintenance, which the LNG carriers regularly require breaking a path through thick Arctic sea ice. The Damen Shiprepair stated that the company was in compliance with all international sanctions legislation against Russia. As the vessels have not been directly sanctioned by the U.S. or the EU the yards’ activities do not violate international law. Though procuring spare parts has become increasingly difficult, suppliers of gas chromatographs and flow meters used on LNG carriers have placed restrictions on the end user and no longer deliver parts to the vessels of the Yamal fleet, related to the fear of sanctions. A number of sanctioned LNG carriers, including an Arc7 and several Arc4 ice-class vessels, have recently resorted to receiving maintenance at Chinese yards. The Arc7 LNG carrier 'Christophe de Margerie' spent months at a Zhoushan Island yard east of Shanghai in summer 2024. Currently two additional sanctioned Russian gas carriers, the 'Sputnik Energy' (IMO: 9256602) and the 'Nova Energy' (IMO: 9324277), remained at Zhoushan yards.
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TALARA
Under the pressure of EU sanctions the 'Talara' under charter to BP and inbound from Cape Town to Vadinar, in order to load a cargo of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel on July 21, 2025, to be transported to Africa, left the port without loading the oil. The tanker was placed back on the charter market, available for pickups in India or the Middle East. On July 18 the EU further expanded the sanctions on the Russian energy industry. The goal was to continue to increase the pressure on Russia, and the ' Talara' was included on the new sanctions list. As of July 22, the tanker was anchored in pos. 22° 12' N 068° 42' E in the Gulf of Kutch.
NIKOLAY URVANTSEV
As the summer maintenance season has started, the first Arc7 ice-class gas carriers in service of the Yamal LNG project have arrived at the Fayard A/S shipyard in Odense. The 'Nikolay Urvantsev', chartered to Novatek’s Yamal LNG project, arrived at the drydock on June 26, 2025, and sailed around a week later. The Arc7 LNG carrier 'Fedor Litke (IMO: 9768370)', operated by Dynagas, arrived at the Fayard A/S yard on July 17, following a delivery at Dunkerque, and remained in drydock as of July 24. Repairs and maintenance schedules have been significantly condensed for the Arctic LNG carriers due to their harsh operating conditions along Russia’s Northern Sea Route. The Damen ship repair focuses on hull maintenance, which the LNG carriers regularly require breaking a path through thick Arctic sea ice. The Damen Shiprepair stated that the company was in compliance with all international sanctions legislation against Russia. As the vessels have not been directly sanctioned by the U.S. or the EU the yards’ activities do not violate international law. Though procuring spare parts has become increasingly difficult, suppliers of gas chromatographs and flow meters used on LNG carriers have placed restrictions on the end user and no longer deliver parts to the vessels of the Yamal fleet, related to the fear of sanctions. A number of sanctioned LNG carriers, including an Arc7 and several Arc4 ice-class vessels, have recently resorted to receiving maintenance at Chinese yards. The Arc7 LNG carrier 'Christophe de Margerie' spent months at a Zhoushan Island yard east of Shanghai in summer 2024. Currently two additional sanctioned Russian gas carriers, the 'Sputnik Energy' (IMO: 9256602) and the 'Nova Energy' (IMO: 9324277), remained at Zhoushan yards.
ISLE OF ISLAY
A second set of sea trials for the 'Isle of Islay' have been carried out by Cemre Marin Endustri n the Sea of Marmara from July 16 to 20, and were attended by staff from CMAL and CalMac. Included in the trials were the set-up and testing of the battery energy storage system (BESS), as well as the testing and optimisation of the power management system (PMS) and the energy management system (EMS). The successful testing of the hybrid system marked a significant step forward in completing the vessel for the service Islay and Jura. The vessel has returned to the Cemre Marin Endustri in Yalova, where it was undergoing further outfitting work. The vessel is due to be delivered in Q3 of 2025.
BOB
The "Bob" was detained on July 16, 2025, in Mersin with 29 deficiencies, four of which being regarded as seriously and grounds for a detention: 1) Life saving Appliances - Rescue boats Inoperative 2) Life saving Appliances - Inflatable liferafts Insufficient 3) Life saving Appliances - Lifebuoys incl provision and disposition Not as required 4) Water/Weathertight - Cargo & other hatchways Damaged The vessel was released July 22 and left the port enroute to Alexandria with an ETA as of July 24.