OREANDA-NEWS. December 31, 2009. “Vladimir Salnikov Cup” International swimming competitions were held in St. Petersburg.

Following one of the key directions of its sponsorship activities aimed at supporting water sports, which contribute to the enhancing of prestige of being a seaman, SCF Group, for the third year running, supports the swimming tournament for Vladimir Salnikov Cup. V. Salnikov is a legendary swimmer and four-times Olympic champion.

In 2009 two hundred strongest swimmers from Russia and fifty world-class sportsmen from 17 countries took part in the tournament. During the competitions one World record, one European and five Russian records were broken.

Traditionally, the cadets of the Admiral Makarov State Maritime Academy, invited to the competition by Sovcomflot, were among the spectators of this festive and fascinating event.

The initiative of holding a tournament was supported by the Governor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matviyenko, by the Federation of swimming of St. Petersburg and by the All-Russian Federation of swimming.

SCF (Sovcomflot) Group is Russia’s largest shipping company. One hundred per cent of its shares are owned by the State. The SCF Group’s fleet is amongst the five leading tanker companies in the world and operates 147 vessels with a total deadweight (dwt) of more than 10.0 million tonnes. The current shipbuilding portfolio includes 16 vessels of 1.55 million tonnes dwt. The average age of vessels in the tanker fleet is about six years (the world average age is 12 years).

• The company owns the largest ice-class fleet, being No.1 in the segment of the Arctic shuttle tankers and ice-classed LNG tankers;

• SCF Group is a world leader by deadweight in the product carrier segment; it is the second largest in the Aframax tanker segment and the fourth largest in the Suezmax tanker sector;

• The Group’s services include not only transporting hydrocarbons for its customers, but also trans-shipping crude oil via FSO facilities, terminal management and developing effective logistics for transporting energy, and providing supply vessels services to drilling rigs and offshore platforms;

• SCF Group participates in the development of projects of servicing offshore oil and gas fields, including the construction and operation of the offshore equipment.