Novatek, China COSCO SHIPPING Corporation Limited, Sovcomflot and Silk Road Fund has signed an agreement in respect of the Maritime Arctic Transport LLC (MArT) during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019.
The signing ceremony was attended by RF Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov, RF Deputy Minister of Transport and Head of the Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport Yury Tsvetkov, and RF Deputy Minister of Economic Development Oksana Tarasenko.
The agreement was signed by President and CEO of Sovcomflot Sergey Frank, Chairman of the Novatek Management Board Leonid Mikhelson, Chairman of the COSCO Shipping Corporation Board of Directors Xui Lizhong, and President of the Silk Road Fund Wang Yanzhi.
According to Novatek, the agreement is aimed at for establishing a long-term partnership providing for the joint development, financing and implementing year-round logistics arrangements for shipping hydrocarbons from the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as organizing transit cargo traffic along the Northern Sea Route between Asia and Western Europe.
According to Sovcomflot, the focus of the Maritime Arctic Transport joint venture is to manage an icebreaking tanker fleet of Arctic ice-class vessels, comprising existing and new vessels, engaged in the transportation of LNG for Novatek’s current and planned projects, namely Yamal LNG, Arctic LNG 2 and others.
“The Agreement represents an important milestone in developing the transportation of LNG produced by our Arctic projects along the Northern Sea Route,” noted L.Mikhelson. “The development of MArT will facilitate the rapid transformation of the Northern Sea Route into a global and commercially effective transportation corridor between the Pacific and Atlantic basins, as well as in the implementation of the decision made by the leadership of the Russian Federation to increase Northern Sea Route annual cargo traffic to 80 million tons in 2024”.
“The project’s transport and logistics are consolidated around a single operational platform that will contribute to increased efficiency, safety, and further optimisation of the entire cargo transit traffic system through the waters of the Northern Sea Route, including the Polar Silk Road project”, S.Frank said.