Print Friendly, PDF & Email

PAO Sovcomflot (SCF), Rosneft, the Russian State Transport Leasing Company (STLC), and Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex have agreed on the construction of five Aframax tankers to enable export shipments of crude oil and oil products.

The 114,000 dwt vessels will be built by Zvezda joi[ds_preview]ntly with Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), technology partner of Zvezda. The new vessels are due to enter service beginning from 2021. The tankers will have an ice class of 1A/1B, sufficient to ensure safe year-round operations in regions with challenging ice conditions, including the Baltic Sea and subarctic seas.

SCF will operate all the tankers, first supervising their construction and then providing a range of services to ensure the effective and safe management of these vessels, including the recruitment of high-skilled crews and their management, the company stated. The technical specification of the new tankers was designed by SCF, with the close involvement of the Far Eastern Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Centre (FESRC).

»New generation of merchant vessels«

»This series of tankers heralds a new generation of merchant vessels with higher environmental safety standards. They are purpose-designed to use LNG as their primary fuel, which significantly reduces their environmental impact. The vessels were designed to comply with most stringent international Sulphur Oxide, Nitrogen Oxide, and Carbon Dioxide emission standards, governed by new IMO regulations that are scheduled to come into effect from 2020 and will apply, amongst other areas, to the Baltic and North Seas,« SCF said in a statement.

scf aframax lng zvezda hhi fesrc
Photo: SCF

Sergey Frank, President and CEO of Sovcomflot, said: »On the global market, Sovcomflot has a strong reputation as a world-class operator of large-capacity tankers, as well as platform supply vessels, and we remain the world’s No.1 operator of Aframax tankers, which comprise over one-third of the SCF fleet.«

A driver for Russian port infrastructure

»Sovcomflot welcomes the further expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation with Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil exporter. SCF Group is already operating three Rosneft-owned ice-class 30,000 dwt tankers (»RN Arkhangelsk«, »RN Murmansk«, and »RN Privodino«), all of them transporting oil and petroleum products across the Baltic Sea and in the Arctic. SCF is also involved in crude oil transhipment operations for Rosneft,« Frank added.

Frank said, he hoped that the beginning of serial production of cutting-edge large-capacity LNG-fueled tankers in Russia would facilitate the the further development of Russia’s port infrastructure that will allow ships to be bunkered with LNG fuel at Russian ports. »We are also looking forward to seeing Russian regulators and maritime authorities continue with providing incentives for charterers, ship owners, and fleet operators who are taking real steps towards investing in green technologies,« he said.