Tanker SCF Viktor Bakaev completes her first NSR voyage from east to west (photo)

On October 28, 2013, tanker Victor Bakaev of Sovcomflot Group completed her voyage via the Northern Sea Route, SCF press center says.

The voyage lasted for 14 days including the time needed to form an ice convoy. Average speed of the Victor Bakaev at NSR was 6.4 knots. Maximum draught of the vessel was 12.3 m enabling it to use a safe route via the strait of Sannikov. The tanker is expected to arrive at the port of unloading in Great Britain on November 4, 2013.

It is the first east-west voyage for Sovcomflot and the last crossing of the Northern Sea Route in navigation of 2013. From 2010, seven SCF vessels passed the Northern Sea Route.

The Victor Bakaev of LRII type (118,000-dwt, ice class 1С) left the port of Yeosu (S. Korea) on October 2, 2013 with 88,000 tonnes of aviation kerosine towards the Cape Dezhnev. Charterer – largest international oil trader VITOL. 

The icebreaking assistance was provided by nuclear icebreakers Taimyr and Vaygach of FSUE Atomflot. Technical support of the voyage is provided by SCF Novoship Technical Management  in conjunction with the experts of Sovcomflot headquaters and Northern Sea Route Administration.

Technical characteristics of the tanker: built in 2013, deadweight – 118,195 t, ice class – 1C, length – 249.9 m, width – 46 m, draught – 14.6 m.

OAO Sovcomflot has unique experience of Arctic fleet operations and specialises in projects involving challenging climatic conditions. In 2010, tanker SCF Baltica became the first large-tonnage vessel to complete a high-latitude crossing from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This voyage proved that the use of the Northern Sea Route as a shipping corridor for large-capacity vessels was not only possible, but also economically viable. In 2011, another Sovcomflot tanker, Vladimir Tikhonov, successfully crossed a new deep-water, high-latitude route to the north of the New Siberian Islands Archipelago. This new commercial shipping corridor was subsequently named the Tikhonov Route.

Sovcomflot Group (SCF) is Russia’s largest shipping company and a world leader in the maritime transportation of hydrocarbons as well as the servicing and support of offshore exploration and oil & gas production. The company’s fleet (owned & chartered) specialises in hydrocarbon transportation from regions with challenging icy conditions and includes 160 vessels with a combined deadweight of over 12 million tonnes. A third of these vessels have a high ice class. Sovcomflot supports large-scale energy projects in Russia and the rest of the world, including: Sakhalin-I, Sakhalin-II, Varandey, Tangguh, Escobar and Peregrino. The company is registered in Saint-Petersburg and has representative offices in Moscow, Novorossiysk, Murmansk, Vladivostok, London, Limassol, Madrid, Singapore and Dubai.