Norilsk Nickel to take delivery of first Arctic tanker from Nordic Yards
German shipyard Nordic Yards on September 30, 2011 will deliver to the Customer, MMC Norilsk Nickel, the first Arctic ice-class tanker, the company’s transport division head said.
As Director of Norilsk Nickel’s Murmansk-based transport division Alexei Tyukavin told reports the 14.500dwt Arc 7 class tanker will be the 6th ship of Norilsk Nickel’s Arctic fleet (the company has now 5 dry cargo ships of Arc 7 class).
The tanker is able to transport simultaneously three types of petroleum products. The tanker is designed to operate year-round in the western sector of the Arctic without icebreaker escort with ice thickness of 1.5 meters.
The vessel construction is valued about EUR 100 million.
The vessel will be transporting petroleum products to the port of Dudinka for the needs of Norilsk Nickel and the entire Norilsk industrial region. From the port of Dudinka the tanker will carry exported gas condensate produced by Norilsk Nickel on Pelyatkinsky field.
"Currently, gas condensate is transported for us by Murmansk Shipping Company with further transshipment in Murmansk,” Mr. Tyukavin said. “With the new tanker we will be able to do it without Murmansk Shipping".
Nordic Yards has two shipyards based in Wismar and Warnemünde. The shipbuilder specializes in the construction of ice-breaking and ice-going ships, special tankers, ferries and offshore projects. The company is owned by a Russian businessman Vitaly Yusufov.
MMC Norilsk Nickel is a diversified mining and metal producing company, a leading global producer of nickel, palladium, platinum, cobalt, copper and rhodium. The company specializes also in mining of gold, silver, iridium, osmium, selenium, ruthenium and tellurium.
The Company’s facilities are located across the world, operating in Russia (Norilsk Industrial Area and Kola Peninsula), Finland, USA, Australia, Botswana and South Africa.