An agreement has been reached over ice trials with the shipowners that have ordered ice-breaking LNG carriers to serve Russia’s upcoming Yamal LNG project.

TradeWinds understands the deal will allow the 172,140-cbm sisterships to be ­delivered first to their long-term charterer, Yamal Trade, and then undertake ice trials at a later date.

A second dedicated ship for the soon-to-start-up project — the newbuilding Boris ­Vilkitsky, controlled by Dynagas, Sinotrans and China LNG Shipping — is now expected to deliver in December.

The vessel had been listed as due to leave DSME’s Okpo yard at the end of August if trials were to be conducted. But several Arctic watchers have pointed out that it may have proved difficult to find ice of the required thickness to break during the remaining months of this year.

Yamal’s shipping team did not respond to a request for confirmation on the ice trials. Dynagas chief executive Tony Lauritzen said he was unable to comment.

Last week, TradeWinds reported that the first of the 15 Arc7s, SCF Group’s newbuilding, Christophe de Margerie (built 2016), is heading back to Sabetta on northern Russia’s Yamal Peninsula to lift the project’s first cargo next month.

Ice trials have proved a delicate issue for the three lead Arc7 owners. Under their shipbuilding contracts with DSME, the owners have the right to trial all 15 specialised sisterships in ice prior to taking final delivery of them in Sabetta and handing them over to their long-term charterer.

The first of the 15, the Christophe de Margerie, sailed through its ice trials in the first quarter, at one point overtaking its ice-breaker escort and breaking ice 1.5 metres thick.

This led the yard, which is technically responsible for the vessel until its final delivery to its owners in Sabetta, to argue that there was no need for trials on the rest of the ships.

But those following the specialised newbuildings indicate that the other Arc7 owners are keen to see at least one of their ships trialled in ice.

Dynagas and its partners are building five of the LNG carriers. Teekay and China LNG Shipping (Holdings) have six on order and Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), which is working with China Shipping Development Co, has three.

Yamal has allocated five Arc7s for each of its three 6.5 million tonnes per annum liquefaction trains.

Aside from the Christophe de Margerie and Boris Vilkitsky, the other under-construction ships for the first train are listed as Dynagas’ Fedor Litke, the Teekay-­controlled Eduard Toll and MOL’s Vladimir Rusanov.

They will ship cargoes east through the Northern Sea Route between May and November, when it is navigable, and to northern Europe for transshipment onto conventional vessels during the remaining months.