SMART to operate Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG 2 tankers
VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 5 (Interfax) - The company Modern Maritime Arctic Transport (SMART) will operate the LNG tankers for the Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG 2 tankers, Novatek head Leonid Mikhelson said at a briefing.
"Our vision today is that Maritime Arctic Transport (MART), a more global company, [will deliver] to the end consumer. Before the commissioning of Arctic LNG 2, we want to create a unified management scheme for the entire fleet of both the Yamal LNG project and Arctic LNG 2," Mikhelson said.
"But SMART [a Novatek/Sovcomflot JV] will focus more on ice-class ships that [go] from the Gulf of Ob to Murmansk and Kamchatka. And this is partly connected with the fact that VEB will provide financing [for the construction of tankers]. SMART's current task [extends] to the tankers that will go only to the transshipment points. Then a more global brand will be created," he said, stressing that Arc7 tankers created for Yamal LNG will also be managed by SMART.
Talks with China's Cosco Shipping on the latter's participation in MART are continuing, Mikhelson said.
It was reported yesterday that Novatek and Sovcomflot had agreed to create SMART to build 17 LNG tankers for Arctic LNG 2.