Sovcomflot’s oil tanker sets sail to Asia across the NSR (photo release)
The SCF Amur, a Sovcomflot’s tanker laden with oil products set out from the Port of Murmansk across the Northern Sea Route to Asia. The MR 47,000DWT Ice-Ice Class 1A (Arc4) tanker will proceed to a port in South-East Asia with a cargo of oil. The estimated time of arrival at the port of destination is the second half of September (in less than a month). Sailing on the Northeast Passage will take about seven days.
For SCF Group this is the fourth voyage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean through the Arctic. The Group’s tankers have set a new record during first voyages for the largest vessels ever to navigate the Arctic routes and the largest volume of loads. In August 2010, the Aframax size tanker SCF Baltica with deadweight of more than 100,000 sailed on the NSR. In August 2011, the 160,000DWT Vladimir Tikhonov another tanker of SCF Group crossed the shipping route in a record time. In October 2011, the SCF Mar Adriana carried cargo to Asia through the NSR.
The SCF Amur will sail in a convoy of merchant ships escorted by Atomflot’s icebreaker “50 Years of Victory. The SCF Amur is equipped with all modern communications systems, including satellite system Iridium, Internet, and advanced navigation systems Glonass and GPS. The tanker has a crew of 25.