Sovcomflot plans fleet expansion with RS

RS, which is participating in the ship owner’s entire shipbuilding programme, said that the organisations are cooperating on several technically complex shipbuilding projects in light of the region’s challenging climate.

New vessels ordered by Sovcomflot to serve Russia’s Yamal LNG project include an ARC7 pilot Arctic ice class LNG carrier. The ship’s technical specifications and ‘unique’ power capacity, said to be comparable with that of a nuclear-powered icebreaker, allow her to transport cargo along the Northern Sea Route. The vessel will enter service in June 2016.

RS is also surveying the construction of a series of ARC7 ice class shuttle tankers to operate on the Novoportovsk gas condensate field, the largest field on the Yamal peninsula. The 42,000dwt vessels are expected to be completed in 2016.

A series of state-of-the-art icebreaking supply vessels is also being constructed at United Shipbuilding Corporation’ Arctech Helsinki Shipyard. The ships, with Icebreaker6 ice class, will work on the north-east of Sakhalin Island as part of the technical equipment for drilling platforms, as well as for icebreaking and rescue operations.

The series includes a larger supply vessel for production platforms that will be an upgraded version of the Vitus Bering series of icebreaking supply vessels. The ships will operate at the Arkutun-Dagi offshore oil field and are planned to be completed by 2017.

Last year 10 Sovcomflot vessels were transferred to RS class. The society is now responsible for the survey of 40 Sovcomflot ships.

Pavel Shikhov, chief operating officer, RS said: “The vessels ordered by Sovcomflot reflect the very latest shipbuilding innovations. Our participation in these projects is not only an acknowledgement of our expertise, but also an opportunity to further develop and gain further advanced experience.”

Shikhov added that RS would also work on the appraisal and certification of Sovcomflot’s management systems this year, continuing a project that began in 2013 with an agreement to conduct a diagnostic audit of the ship owner’s vessel Arctica.