New 104,000-dwt tanker Zaliv America has been laid down at Hyundai Heavy Industries in S. Korea. It is the first tanker of the series of six vessels, deita.ru reports. The delivery of the tankers is scheduled for 2008-2009. According to the information provided by the company’s shipbuilding department, installation of the first block of the yet-to-be built tanker was attended by the representatives of PRISCO and classification society Det Norske Veritas (DNV). Zaliv America is to be put into operation in January 2008.
The company’s new tankers are designed as 1A ice class according to DNV classification, which enables them to be deployed for operation in non-Arctic freezing seas. The vessels of the new series are to bear the names of the Far Eastern bays. The head tanker was given a name of the bay on the shore of which the city of Nakhodka and PRISCO are located.