The Arctic is phasing out heavy fuel oil—starting 1 July 2024, the International Maritime Organisation's ban on using this fuel type in polar waters takes effect. The new regulations will be implemented gradually over the next five years. The ban doesn't apply to all vessels—those with double hulls, designed for search and rescue operations or oil spill response, can continue operating in the Arctic Ocean and beyond. Russia backed the international ban, so now the domestic shipbuilding industry must find an alternative to conventional fuel, much to environmentalists' delight.

Heavy fuel oil is a residual fuel with lower viscosity and pour point, as well as higher calorific value and ash content. It's a mixture of fuel oil, tar, heavy gas oils and first- and second-distillation diesel fractions. It's highly efficient when used in large marine power plants, and heavy fuel oil is also expensive. According to the International Maritime Organisation, about 75% of Arctic ships use it to power their engines. Incidentally, heavy fuel oil is quite toxic when burned in open spaces and can be dangerous for humans and animals. Ship engine emissions also harm the Arctic ecosystem.

In Russia, liquefied natural gas should become an alternative to heavy fuel. According to Evgeny Shvarts, Head of the Centre for Responsible Environmental Management of the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the first projects to build LNG-powered Arctic ships are already underway. Specifically, Nornickel began developing a programme to produce such ships, but sanctions forced the company to freeze development. Now that there's a real need, there's a chance the project could be revived. Sovcomflot also has several large LNG-powered tankers. These ships are being built at the Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex. The need to switch to gas is outlined in the Strategy for the Development of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation until 2035, in accordance with a presidential decree.

Using LNG will eliminate sulfur oxide and particulate emissions, reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 90%, and cut CO₂ emissions by 30%. Dual-fuel engines (gas and liquid fuel), currently the main alternative to conventional diesel engines, have similar size and weight characteristics to their predecessors. This means replacing power units on existing vessels won't require major structural changes. However, the eco-friendly LNG engines are somewhat less powerful than their diesel counterparts, but engineers promise to solve this issue. Specialists will also need to implement cryogenic fuel storage tanks. These take up much more space than fuel oil drums and tanks, and require additional equipment. Storing pressurised gas without liquefaction was deemed inefficient—the tanks take up even more space than LNG storage.

The issue of fuel availability, however, is no longer as pressing. The rapid development of Russian LNG projects (Yamal LNG, Arctic LNG 2, Baltic LNG and others) is creating a solid foundation to fully supply existing and new ships with fuel. The environmental initiative itself will generate a sustainable market, contributing to Arctic development. Settlements along the entire North Sea Route will also benefit—bunkering centres for refuelling gas-powered ships will need to be built, bringing investment and new jobs.

Russia is actively developing LNG shipping today, keeping pace with the global trend. According to Alexey Knizhnikov, Head of WWF Russia's Business Environmental Responsibility Programme, LNG-powered transit shipments along the Northern Sea Route accounted for 43% of the total in 2019. No other country in the world had achieved such figures at that time.

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