In the coming days, Sovcomflot is going to sign an agreement for building a series of ice-class Aframax tankers of over 117,000DWT, the PortNews IAA correspondent reported citing the statement of Sovcomflot’s CEO Sergey Frank.
Mr. Frank attended the official ceremony held today in St. Petersburg at Admiralty Shipyards of handing over the Kirill Lavrov tanker to Sovcomflot. Later in an interview with journalists, Sergey Frank said that his company had been in talks with several shipbuilders for new tankers contract (10 vessels and 2 in option), including, the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC). However, he said, Russian shipyard are currently not technologically ready for the construction of such type ships. Therefore, Sovcomflot considers it appropriate to begin the construction of vessels at the shipyards of South Korea.
As USC’s CEO Roman Trotsenko said, the first three tankers will be built in Korea and then building of the vessels could be continued at the new Far East super shipyard, currently under construction in Bolshoi Kamen.
Sergei Frank said that the company has not decided as yet where it would place the order, but he considers it reasonable to place the greatest possible number of such orders at Russian enterprises. "Russia came up with the first Arctic ship, we have our own traditions and experience of building a fleet of ice class, so we are obliged to support domestic enterprises", Sergey Frank was quoted as saying.
According to Igor Ryabov, a spokesman for the USC, the cost of the project’s tanker might cost approximately $ 65 million.
As PortNews IAA earlier reported, Sovcomflot plans to invest in the construction of ships in the next 5 years, $5.5 billion. More than half of the new fleet will be ice-class vessels.
Sovcomflot Group, founded in 1995, is one of the largest Russian shipping companies. Sovcomflot’s fleet comprises of 147 ships of total 10,7-m DWT. The company’s shipbuilding program includes 8 ships of total 0,62-m DWT
As USC’s CEO Roman Trotsenko said, the first three tankers will be built in Korea and then building of the vessels could be continued at the new Far East super shipyard, currently under construction in Bolshoi Kamen.
Sergei Frank said that the company has not decided as yet where it would place the order, but he considers it reasonable to place the greatest possible number of such orders at Russian enterprises. "Russia came up with the first Arctic ship, we have our own traditions and experience of building a fleet of ice class, so we are obliged to support domestic enterprises", Sergey Frank was quoted as saying.
According to Igor Ryabov, a spokesman for the USC, the cost of the project’s tanker might cost approximately $ 65 million.
As PortNews IAA earlier reported, Sovcomflot plans to invest in the construction of ships in the next 5 years, $5.5 billion. More than half of the new fleet will be ice-class vessels.
Sovcomflot Group, founded in 1995, is one of the largest Russian shipping companies. Sovcomflot’s fleet comprises of 147 ships of total 10,7-m DWT. The company’s shipbuilding program includes 8 ships of total 0,62-m DWT