A key shipment of equipment for Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project failed to reach its destination due to sanctions. The heavy lift vessel Wei Xiao Tian Shi returned to China in January 2025, still carrying its cargo.
The ship had two large modules, each weighing over 12,000 tons, built by Chinese company Wison New Energies. These modules were meant for the third liquefaction train of the Arctic LNG 2 project.
The Wei Xiao Tian Shi left China’s Zhoushan yard in March 2024 but made an unexpected detour. It sailed through the North Atlantic and around South Africa before turning back near Denmark’s Faroe Islands in July 2024.
The vessel then returned to China without delivering the modules.
The modules were supposed to go to Novatek’s Belokamenka yard in Russia, where they would have been used for the Arctic LNG 2 project. However, increasing sanctions on Russia have led to the turn of events.
In January 2025, the ship arrived at Dongzao Gang port in China, where it unloaded the modules. Wison New Energies has not commented on what will happen to the modules or the others still at its Zhoushan yard.
Wison had announced it would stop working with Russia but continued shipping equipment for the second liquefaction train of the Arctic LNG 2 project. This led the U.S. to sanction Wison’s Zhoushan yard in January 2025 for its role in the project.
The Wei Xiao Tian Shi spent several months in Chinese waters, trying and failing to unload the modules at ports like Yangpu and Qingdao.
It finally made its way to Dongzao Gang, near Wison’s Qidong yard, which is set to replace the Zhoushan yard. However, Wison has not been able to sell the Zhoushan facility.
Reference: Fullavantenews