Sanctioned Russian ship delivers nuke power equipment to Bangladeshi carriers
The Russian ship under US sanctions has delivered the equipment it had been carrying for Bangladesh's Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant through two ship-to-ship transfers.
The Bangladesh flag carriers Aparajita and Shejuti received the equipment in mid-February and docked at Mongla for unloading, according to sources in the foreign ministry and at the power project.
The Russian ship Ursa Major is now heading back home after being at sea for around three months due to being refused permission to dock at ports by Bangladesh and India.
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Marine Traffic Intelligence reported that the Russian ship is currently sailing in the Laccadive Sea and approaching the Arabian Sea, heading to Novorossiysk, Russia, with an estimated arrival time of 4 April 2023.
Lloyd's List reported that the ship left the Bay of Bengal on 20 March with at least one ship-to-ship transfer picked up around 10 February.
The Russian ship was due to anchor at Bangladesh's Mongla port on 24 December. Meanwhile, on December 20, the United States informed Bangladesh that the "Ursa Major" had been renamed Sparta-III, which was on a list of Russian ships sanctioned by the US.
Based on the US objection, the ship was denied access to Bangladeshi ports in December.
The ship later approached India for docking at West Bengal's Haldia port.
Failing to secure approval from India, it changed its direction and sailed for China on 15 January to unload the equipment at any port there.
But from 10 to 16 February, the ship started transferring the equipment to two Bangladeshi ships without heading to China.
On 16 March, the ship MV Aparajita transported about 1,200 tonnes of equipment to the sea port of Mongla in Bangladesh, according to a press release from Rooppur NPP's media wing.
Before that, in late February, over 2,700 tonnes of Russian equipment for the project was delivered to Bangladesh on two separate vessels.
The Rooppur NPP, equipped with two VVER-1,200 reactors of a total of 2,400 MW capacity, is being constructed under the Russian design.
The Engineering Division of Russia's Rosatom State Corporation is implementing the project as general designer and contractor.
As per project design, the first unit of the plant is scheduled to be connected to the grid by 2023 and the second unit by 2024.
