Krasnoye Sormovo Shipyard (part of United Shipbuilding Corporation) today held an official launching ceremony for fifth product (oil / chemicals) tanker of modified project RST27M. The vessel named Balt Flot 20 is being built for Russian tanker operator BF Tanker, the shipbuilding firm said.
The launching ceremony was attended by representatives of the STLC, BF Tanker, the series design developer (Marine Engineering Bureau), of city authorities, managers and employees of the shipyard.
Mikhail Pershin interim CEO of Krasnoye Sormovo in his speech noted that the shipyard has delivered so far to the customer three tankers of the Project RST27M. Under the contractual terms Krasnoye Sormovo will complete and deliver two more product carriers.
"Vessels of the project RST27M are able to solve the conventional tasks of transporting goods on the inland waterways of the country, and they can cope with this task not worse, I would say, in many respects, better than the vessels of the well-proven RST27 series. The chemical tankers are capable of sailing at sea and on inland waterways, feature enhanced sea capabilities taking into account future oil products transportation in the Caspian region. At the same time, the vessels satisfy the dimensions of the Volga-Don Canal and the Volga-Baltic Waterway. That is, by and large, we have created more universal tankers, both from the point of view of the cargo being transported and also of the geography of supplies," Gennady Egorov, Director General of Marine Engineering Bureau said.
As previously reported, tripartite contracts for five RST27M oil / chemical tankers were signed in Dec. 2016 between Krasnoye Sormovo Shipyard, BF Tanker and the State Transport Leasing Company (STLC). The Customer of the vessels is STLC.
The tankers delivery was scheduled for 2017-2018. BF Tanker has already taken delivery three RST27M-series vessels. The 4th tanker expects sea trials to be handed over to the customer. This 5th tanker, after launching, will have to undergo outfitting, dock-side and sea trials before the parties sign acceptance / delivery certificate.
The modification of RST27-series tankers features increased DWT by more than 800 tonnes.
General characteristics: LOA:140.8 m; beam: 16.9 m; draft (sea/river): 4.6m/3.6 m.
RS class: KM Ice1 1 R2 AUT1-ICS OMBO VCS ECO-S Oil / Chemical Tanker Type 2 (ESP).
The RST27M series tankers were designed for sea and mixed (river-sea) transportation of crude oil and petroleum products with density ranging 0.7 up to 1.015 t/m³, and harmful liquid substances in bulk, including liquids requiring heating up to temperature 60°C, without restriction of temperature of flash-point and simultaneous carriage of 3 sorts of cargo. Engineering design was completed by Volga-Caspian Design Bureau.
Krasnoye Sormovo JSC (founded in 1849) is one of the oldest shipbuilding companies in Russia. Throughout the 75-year period, more than three hundred submarines and rescue vehicles including 25 nuclear ones have been built and modernized by Krasnoye Sormovo Shipyard. Today, Krasnoye Sormovo builds vessels of commercial fleet comply with international conventions reliability and safety requirements. Some of Krasnoye Sormovo tankers are in the list of Significant Ships of the Year by the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (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 40 companies and organizations (major shipbuilding and shiprepairing companies as well as leading design bureaus). Currently, USC consolidates the bulk 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.