The final vessel in a series of 10 multipurpose dry cargo ships of Project RSD59, Astrol-8 built for Astrol, has been launched today, 30 September 2021, the ship designer Marine Engineering Bureau said.
The series was ordered by State Transport Leasing Company with shipping company Astrol as a leaseholder.
Okskaya Shipyard is to build 18 vessels of RSD59 series. The first five will be delivered to Petrotrans, the next ten – to Astrol with the new contract signed for three more ships for Idel. The first fourteen vessels have already entered service.
The RSD59 series vessels were designed for transportation of break bulk, bulk, container, timber, grain and oversize cargo, dangerous goods (Classes 1.4S, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.1, 8, 9 IMDG Code and BC Code’s Appendix B in the Caspian Sea, in the Mediterranean, Black, Baltic, White, North Seas, including sailings around Europe and to the Irish Sea in winter season.
The new series is a successor of RSD49 design which had three holds. RSD59 ships with extra full hull forms have a unique second hold, the largest among Volgo-Don Max ships.
The vessel’s class notation is КМ Ice2(hull; power) R2 АUT1-ICS BWM(T) CONT (deck, cargo holds Nos.1,2) DG (bulk, pack) of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping which meets all the requirements of international conventions in force at the time of the vessel's laying.
Key particulars: DWT at sea with draft of 4.706 m – 8,144 tonnes; DWT in river with draft of 3.60 m – 5,320 tonnes. LOA: 141.0 m, breadth overall: 16.98 m, depth: 6.00 m. The cargo holds capacity: 11,400 cbm. Operating speed: 10.5 knots. Endurance (sea): 20 days. Crew – 11. The ship has accommodations for 14 people and sanitary and pilot cabins.
The ninth cargo vessel of RSD59 design, Alexander Ivanov, was put into operation on 29 September 2021.
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