BlueTraker equipped Russian tanker traverses Arctic route in record time

BlueTraker® LRIT Arctic

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On July 31st Russian tanker Christophe de Margerie with 75.656 tons of liquified natural gas onboard finished transit from Hammerfest in Norway to Boryeong in South Korea through northern Arctic sea route. The journey was made in a record time of just 19 days without any aid of specialized ice-breaking vessels for the first time.

Photo source: (World Maritime News) Link

This historical breakthrough is not only significant for all future Arctic voyages but also for BlueTraker product line of EMA Group. As a globally renowned manufacturer of satellite terminals for communication, tracking, and monitoring of vessels and fleets, we are immensely proud to be a part of this important story. Namely, the super modern SCF (Sovcomflot) tanker made its maiden voyage equipped with our BlueTraker® LRIT Arctic terminal, provided earlier this year. LRIT stands for Long Range Identification and Tracking.

The BlueTraker® LRIT Arctic is the world’s only LRIT terminal which enables operation in the extreme environments of Arctic and Antartic seas, the so called Sea Area A4. Pole to pole coverage is provided through Iridium satellite network. The terminal resists extreme weather conditions with built-in heating elements. Due to the unique double-shell housing, the BlueTraker® LRIT Arctic terminal can operate in extremely cold environments with temperatures down to -50° C.

Another unique feature of the terminal is thermostatic temperature control which enables cold start power-up at temperatures unthinkable before - important in cases of main power loss within the extremely cold environments. Specially designed smart Firmware provides intelligent thermostatic control.

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Challenges of vessel tracking in Sea Area A4

Photo source: (theguardian) Link

According to SCF, the shipping company which owns the tanker, the northern Arctic route is about 30 percent shorter than the conventional southern shipping route through the Suez Canal. Built to traverse the frozen waters of the Arctic, it took 299 meters long tanker just six and a half days to pass along the northern sea section of the route in the Russian Arctic, cutting through 2.1 meters thick ice on its way.

Fewer than 500 ships have made the journey until now, but SCF said it expected the journey to become a routine. Christophe de Margerie is the first of 15 such tankers expected to be built and extends the navigation window for the northern sea route from four months with an expensive icebreaker to all year round.

BlueTraker® LRIT Arctic is a member of an Arctic range of products which consists of VMS Arctic, LRIT Arctic and SSAS Arctic terminals designed specifically for operation in the Polar regions. Global demand for these terminals is increasing in the last years. Our Arctic product range features provide all needed functionalities demanded by the customers.

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BlueTraker Marketing Department
marketing@bluetraker.com

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