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Norwegian LNG to Japan via Arctic route

A brand new Dynagas-operated LNG carrier is on its way from Hammerfest to Japan along the NSR.

Just few weeks after it rolled out from a Korean shipyard, the “Arctic Aurora” LNG carrier is on its Arctic maiden trip from the Norwegian terminal of Melkøya to Japan.

Location

The brand new 155,000 ton ship has left the port of Melkøya with the Japanese port of Futtsu as its end destination. The ship is the second ever LNG carrier sailing from the Statoil-operated Arctic terminal to Japan over the Northern Sea Route.

As previously reported, the “Ob River” in October 2012 took the same route from Norway to Japan.

The “Arctic Aurora” is scheduled to arrive on October 16 at the Asian LNG terminal, Bloomberg reports.

The LNG carrier is operated by Dynagas, the liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipping arm of the George Prokopiou shipping enterprises. The ship is the second of two ice-class membrane LNG tankers which was taken over by Dynagas from the Hyundai Heavy Industry (HHI) in late July this year, Lloyd´s Register informs.

In 2012, a record-high total of 46 vessels shipped transit along the Northern Sea Route. That record is expected to be beaten in the course of 2013.