The world’s first ice-breaking liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier successfully berthed at the port of St. Petersburg, Russia on Saturday with a naming ceremony, declaring a new era of using the high-latitude route as an economically feasible transport corridor for large-capacity vessels.

South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) announced on Sunday the naming ceremony was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, South Korea’s Ambassador to Russia Park Ro-byug and DSME chief executive Jung Sung-leep among others.

Putin said in his address that “the vessel has opened the possibility of navigating through the Arctic route that had long been considered vague. It will contribute greatly to the development of the energy industry not only in Russia and Europe but also around the world.”

The world’s first ice-breaking LNG tanker was named Christophe de Margerie, after the former chief executive of French oil company Total who was killed in an airplane accident in Moscow in 2014, DSME said. The late entrepreneur was credited to leading Russia to resource exploration in the Arctic region.

Assigned an Arc-7 ice class, the LNG carrier is capable of sailing independently through ice up to 2.1 meter thick. It is 299 meters long, 50 meters wide and can carry 173,600 cubic meters of LNG, which is enough to fuel gas for entire Koreans for two full days.

In 2014, DSME took center stage by racking up a massive order to build 15 ice-breaking LNG carriers for roughly $320 million per ship. The remaining 14 carriers are being constructed at the shipbuilder’s Okpo shipyard in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province and are expected to be delivered by the first half of 2020. The 15 carriers will transport LNG from the ice-covered port of Sabetta in Russia to Asia and Northern Europe through the Arctic.

By Moon Ji-woong

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