Nizhny Novgorod, Russia based Krasnoye Sormovo Shipyard (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) on August 19, 2016 hosted a ceremonial launching of the RST27 Explorer tanker ordered by British Virgin Islands-flagged Caspian Marine Services Limited (CMS), the shipbuilding company said.
Godmother of the Explorer who broke a sacrificial bottle of champagne over the tanker's bow was Tarana Vagif Khuseynzade, an executive assistant to CMS CEO.
The launching ceremony was attended by the Nizhny Novgorod city and region authorities, representatives of Customer, designers, engineers and shipbuilders.
Honorary guest of the shipyard, the head of organizations of the Federal Agency for State Property Management Ravil Saitov in his address congratulated the shipyard's employees with the successful launching of the 20th RST27-series tanker.
Nikolai Zharkov, Director General of Krasnoye Sormovo expressed his gratitude to designers, engineers and all technicians for their work and told that the launched Explorer is nearly 100% ready.
"The figure 20 speaks for itself, this number of tankers of RST 27 design in service proves high reliability, operational safety and efficiency for shipping companies. Therefore Sormovo tankers are in demand both in Russia and abroad,” said Nikolai Zharkov.
The Explorer is the first is a series of two tankers of Project RST27 being built at Krasnoye Sormovo Shipyard and scheduled for delivery to Caspian Marine Services Limited in the 2016-2017. Krasnoye Sormovo signed the two tanker contract with CMS in conjunction with MNP Group.
Tankers of Project RST27 are self-propelled ships of Volga-Don max class. Main particulars: LOA: 140.85 m, breadth: 16.7 m, depth: 6.0 m, DWT in fresh water (draft 3.6 m): 5378 tonnes, DWT in salt water (draft 4.2 m): 6,980 tonnes. The vessels are designed for mixed (river-sea) shipping of liquid bulk crude and oil products, including gasoline, with simultaneous carriage of two types of cargo. The RST27 vessels were designed by Marine Engineering Bureau to RS class: KM (*) Ice1 R2 AUT1-ICS VCS ECO-S OMBO Oil tanker (ESP). Detailed design will be provided by Nizhny Novgorod based engineering firm Volga-Caspian Design Bureau.
MNP Group (Marine Oil & Gas Projects) is the Company Manager of shipbuilding projects. The Group comprises shipbuilding, naval architecture and marine engineering firms based in Nizhny Novgorod - Krasnoye Sormovo Shipyard, Sormovskoe Engineering, Volgograd Special Engineering Plant, and the Volga-Caspian Design Bureau. Project management is the key competence of the Group.
Krasnoye Sormovo Plant is one of the oldest Russian shipbuilding companies, founded back in 1849. All vessels built at Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard meet the requirements of MARPOL conventions, having the state-of-the-art equipment. The shipyard specializes in civil shipbuilding, construction of sea-going and mixed river-sea vessels. Some of the ships built by Krasnoye Sormovo are in the list of Significant Ships of RINA.
United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC OJSC) is the largest shipbuilding company in Russia. It was set up in 2007 with 100% federal ownership. The holding comprises 60 companies and organizations (major shipbuilding and shiprepairing companies as well as leading design bureaus). Currently, USC consolidates about 80% of the domestic shipbuilding complex. The Russian market is the main focus of the state corporation though it also exports its products to 20 countries worldwide.