Hanwha Ocean faces mounting costs from blocked icebreaker delivery to Russia in International Shipping News 18/06/2026 Hanwha Ocean is saddled with hundreds of millions of dollars in financial burden, as a fleet of six icebreaking liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers remain undelivered at a domestic shipyard due to sanctions on Russia’s Arctic project, according to industry sources and a report. The specialized vessels, built for Moscow’s high-stakes Arctic energy expansion venture, have turned into a costly asset for Hanwha Ocean, leaving the Korean shipbuilder with few viable options beyond waiting indefinitely for new buyers or selling the ships at steep discounts. The company secured a massive order to construct six highly sophisticated Arc7-class LNG carriers for the Arctic LNG 2 project pushed by Russian gas producer Novatek. Under the project, Hanwha Ocean was supposed to deliver three of the vessels for Sovcomflot, the largest shipping firm in Russia, and three for Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines. All were scheduled for delivery by the end of July 2023 for the Arctic project, according to a report by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions by the U.S. and its allies prevented Hanwha Ocean from delivering them on time, leaving all of the completed vessels stranded at its shipyard in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province. Industry officials said Hanwha Ocean has no choice but to find potential buyers for the stranded vessels, but prospects are slim. “Hanwha Ocean is forced to either absorb continuous maintenance costs while waiting indefinitely for an eligible buyer, or engage in dumping sales even at the expense of financial loss,” a shipbuilding industry official said on condition of anonymity. Modern LNG carriers command a market price of roughly $260 million each, but the specialized icebreaking Arc7 vessels carry a higher price premium due to their complex engineering. The combined value of the six st