George Prokopiou, the Greek shipowner behind Dynacom, Dynagas, and Sea Traders, said that the inclusion of three Dynagas-managed liquefied natural gas carriers in the United Kingdom’s latest round of sanctions against Russia was “100% a mistake”, according to Lloyd’s List.
The company has contacted the British government to clarify the situation and held discussions with Foreign Office officials by Thursday morning.
The three LNG carriers, built in 2014, have been owned by China Development Bank Financial Leasing since a 2017 sale-and-leaseback agreement with Dynagas.
They are managed as part of Dynagas’s LNG fleet and operate under 15-year charters to Yamal Trade in Singapore, which markets gas from Russia’s Yamal Arctic project.
Prokopiou emphasized that about half of Yamal’s exports go to European markets and that the vessels serve exclusively this project.
“It’s a mistake because the Yamal terminal is not sanctioned, the cargo is not sanctioned, the charterers are not sanctioned, so I don’t know what the reason could be,” he said. “It is an annoyance but I hope that it can be sorted out quite quickly.”
The Dynagas vessels are not Russian-owned and are operated by an established shipping company. The ships were built to high ice-class standards, allowing them to operate in Arctic conditions, though Prokopiou said this design choice was meant for flexibility, not for exclusive use in Russian trade.
Dynagas Ltd. is a Greek ship management company specializing in liquefied natural gas (LNG) transportation. It manages a fleet of LNG carriers and operates globally in the maritime energy logistics sector.
