The initiative to name the ship after Nikolai Orlov came from the Maritime Assembly of Saint-Petersburg and State Transport Leasing Company in recognition of his services and contribution to preservation of Russia’s best maritime traditions.
The ceremony was attended by Aleksandr Murzin, Chief Federal Inspector in the Nizhny Novgorod Region; Mikhail Pershin, Director of Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard; Sergey Iryutin, Chairman of the Maritime Assembly of Saint-Petersburg. Irina Leshchenko, spokeswoman of the Maritime Assembly, acted as the godmother in the course of the name-giving ceremony.
Vessels of Project RSD59 are designed for transportation of general and dry bulk cargo (including grain), bundled and round timber, metal scrap, metal coils, oversize/overweight cargo, coal and dangerous goods of B class in R2 navigation area with waves up to 3% and standing off a place of shelter within 100 miles (distance between shelters should not exceed 200 miles), inland waterways of Russia (with some restrictions).
Key particulars of the ship: LOA – 141 m; Breadth – 16.98 m; Depth – 6 m; River/Sea draft – 3.6/4.5 m, number of holds – 2, endurance - 20/12 days.
Class notation: КМ Ice2 R2 АUT1-ICS CONT (deck, cargo holds Nos.1.2) DG (bulk, pack).
Project RSD59 designer is Marine Engineering Bureau – Design SPb.
Krasnoye Sormovo PJSC is one of the oldest shipbuilding companies in Russia, founded in 1849. 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 meeting the requirements of international conventions on reliability and safety. Some of Krasnoye Sormovo tankers are in the list of Significant Ships of the Year by the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA).