Landmark year for Russian shipping

RS said that there are currently over 150 vessels with a total tonnage of about 2 million, have been ordered or are already under construction to the RS class. These include 11 gas carriers, 21 icebreakers and specialised support vessel and 27 tankers.

This surge has been largely due to the fact that the RS was actively involved in developing offshore oil and gas services in 2014, most of which are ongoing projects.

To ensure transportation of oil from the Novy Port terminal (Gulf of Ob, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area), six 42,000 dwt tankers (ice class Arc7) are being built with the participation of the RS Design and Newbuilding Support Centre in Busan, South Korea. Additionally a total of 15 Arctic Yamal LNG carriers will be built to the RS class between 2016 and 2019.

With the participation of RS, the construction of specialised icebreaking vessels and offshore platform supply vessels are also under way, as well as of diesel-electric icebreakers of 16MW and 25MW power capacity at leading shipyards in Finland and South Korea.

The classification society is also working with the Vyborg Shipyard and Baltic Shipyard, where a series of all-purpose new generation nuclear icebreakers with a power capacity of 60MW are being built.

In 2015, a number of amendments are planned to be made to one of the organisation’s basic documents, the Rules for the Classification and Construction of Sea-Going Ships, including the integration of Finnish-Swedish ice classification standards.

As a result of the RS participation in the LNG carrier construction project, new equipment requirements for vessels of this type have also been developed.