Russia’s Sovcomflot has inked lease financing and long term time-charter agreements with financial institution VEB.RF Group for its first in a series of icebreaking LNG carrier to be built to serve the Arctic LNG 2 project.

Russia’s Gazprom Neft has opened an office in Singapore to oversee international sales and logistics network of its marine lubricants.

Russian firms Sovcomflot Group and Gazprom Neft Marine have joined hands to develop projects for LNG bunkering as part of their efforts to reduce emissions from ships.

South Korean carrier Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) announced that it will expand its cooperation with Russia’s Fesco on an existing service between China, Korea and Russia.

Russian oil firm Gazprom has affirmed plans to continue creating infrastructure for producing and marketing LNG as a marine fuel, following the group’s internal review on the prospects of the LNG bunkering market.

The Tasmanic Winter has nearly finished its voyage from China to Rotterdam via the Northern Sea Route with 24 new vessels on board built at Damen yards in Changde and Yichang.

As the World Cup tournament was about to kick off at Luzhniki Stadium, Russia, the freight market seemed to be caught on with the ball watching and boasted little activity since the start of the week.