Sovcomflot continues to expand its Aframax fleet

Suvorovsky Prospect, is a tanker of 114,100 tonnes dwt, classified 1B ice class (based on international classification) and designed for crude oil transportation. The vessel’s dimensions are: length overall – 250 metres; breadth (moulded) – 44 metres; draft (summer) – 15 metres.
The vessel is designed to operate in the Russian part of the Baltic and the Far East, tp provide hydrocarbons transportation from the ports of Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Kozmino. The ship fully complies with all the national and international safety standards of the DNV Classification society.
The addition of Aframax tankers to SCF Group’s fleet, vessels which are in high demand on the international and Russian markets, is reflected in SCF Group’s Strategy for Development 2010 – 2015, approved by the Sovcomflot Board of Directors in December 2009. The Strategy envisages a progressive increase in the company’s share of this segment of the global tanker market.
As of today, Sovcomflot operates the second largest Aframax fleet in the world measured by deadweight tonnage. It allocates construction orders for this type of ship according to the requirements for transporting Russian cargo, and the growing capacities of the onshore oil-loading terminals of the North Western, Far Eastern and Southern regions of Russia.
The construction of vessels of this size at Russian shipyards is not possible at present. However, the introduction of new shipbuilding facilities in Russia’s Far East provides the opportunity for such large-capacity tankers to be constructed in the Russian Federation by 2014.