Besiktas Shipyard launches sixth tanker of RST22M project for Palmali Group
Yalova-based Besiktas Shipyard on May 24, 2012 held an official launching ceremony for the sixth tanker of RST22M Project being constructed for Palmali Group. The 7100dwt tanker was named Bakhtiar Vahabzade after the prominent Azerbaijan poet, the shipping company said.
Palmali Group placed an order for 10 tankers of Armada series of Project RST22M with Besiktas Shipyard and in late May 2011 implemented an option for 5 more vessels. The Turkish shipbuilder plans to perform the order by the end of 2013. Two tankers of the series have been put into service.
The new series tankers satisfy the Volga-Don Canal and the Volga-Baltic dimensions. DWT river / sea – 4611t / 7084t. RST22M project vessel general characteristics: length overall - 139.95 m, breadth - 16.6 m, depth – 6.0 m.
The Project RST22M product tankers are successors of Project 005RST01, or "Armada" first series. The Armada serial ships were designed by Marine Engineering Bureau for Palmali Group and built at the shipyards of Selah and ADA in Tuzla (Turkey) in 2002 -2006. The Project RST22m is the evolution of the 2nd series tankers (Project RST22), which were built at Nizhny Novgorod-based Krasnoye Sormovo in 2008-2009. The tankers of RST22M, RST22 and 005RST01 projects feature full revolving rudder propellers, increased trunk and submersible cargo pumps. They have no longitudinal bulkhead in CL and no framing in cargo tanks.
Ten tankers of the first Armada and five tankers of the New Armada have been engaged in 'river-sea' transportation of crude oil, fuel oil, diesel fuel and other petroleum products and vegetable oils. The vessels also carry the commodities on the shipping lanes in the Caspian, Black, Mediterranean, Baltic and North Seas, including the routes around Europe and in the Irish Sea.
Palmali Group is a shipping company operating in the Mediterranean, Caspian and Black Seas. Last year, shipments of oil cargo on Russia’s inland waterways by the Group’s fleet exceeded 4,5m tons. Palmali Group is a major carrier of oil companies SOCAR (Azerbaijan) and LUKOIL (Russia) on the southern lines. The Group has been awarded long-term contracts for transportation of petroleum products with TNK-BP.
The Group operates a fleet of more than 100 vessels, including sea-going tankers of up to 180,000dwt, sea-going and river tankers of up to 8,000dwt tons flying Russian and foreign flags.
Besiktas Shipyard founded in 2007 is part of Besiktas Group, comprising shipping and shipbuilding assets. Besiktas Shipyard features the 235m-long, 40m-wide panamax size dry dock and 230m-long, 37m-wide panamax size floating dock dedicated to ship repairs and conversions.