OREANDA-NEWS. December 18, 2009. Tanker "Kirill Lavrov" ordered for OJSC Sovkomflot has been launched at the "Admiralteisky Verf". This is the second of two largest tankers ever constructed at the shipyard, the Sovkomflot press service reports. The first tanker "Mikhail Ulyanov" was launched in 2008. The tankers will transport oil from the offshore ice-resistant oil platform "Prirazlomnaya for terminal near Murmansk.

Arctic tankers are intended for shipment of hydrocarbons from offshore fields. The construction of such ships is a high-tech manufacturing. The government of St. Petersburg supports the innovative development of the regional transport complex.

"According to Western experts,” Governor Valentina Matvienko is quoted as saying, “these ships belong to a new generation of vessels, and recognized as the most technically advanced products of modern shipbuilding. We should primarily support such manufactures".

Russian engineers designing the tanker used a patented technology of the Aker Arctic company (Finland).
The tanker can be used as ice breaker.

The ships are being constructed under the joint supervision by two Classification Societies – Russian Maritime Register of Shipping and Lloyd's Register of Shipping. Each tanker will be equipped with two powerful diesel-electric propulsion systems (AZIPOD) of 8500 kW Tankers are also equipped with the state-of-the-art technical equipment, combined into an integrated computer system.

The patriarch of Russian shipbuilding industry “Admiralteisky Verf" (Shipyard) on November 5, 2009 celebrated its 305th anniversary. Over three centuries "Admiralty Shipyards" has built over 2,6 thousand ships and vessels for various purposes. In 2003-2008 JSC "Admiralty Shipyards" built and delivered for Sovcomflot eight modern 47.400 deadweight tons tankers to transport oil. In 2007 the company built two icebreaking and firefighting tugs on the draft of Robert Allan design-engineering department (Canada) to operate on the Sakhalin shelf. The company is currently constructing arctic icebreaking tankers of 70 000 tons, and a vessel for scientific researches and expeditions ordered by Roshydromet.