OREANDA-NEWS. March 17, 2010. The SCF Group’s fleet was expanded by the addition of a technologically advanced large Suezmax tanker, at a naming ceremony for the tanker named SCF Baikal, which took place at the Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard (Republic of Korea). The ceremony was attended by the Consul General of the Russian Federation in Pusan Valery Ermolov, Sovcomflot Senior Vice-President Evgeny Ambrosov, Captain Alexander Cherenkov and his Crew, and representatives of the SCF Group and the shipyard.

The tanker SCF Baikal of 158,300 tonnes (dwt) has been designed to carry crude oil. Her Length on Average (LOA) is 274 metres, Breadth Moulded is 48 metres and Draft (scantling) – 17 metres.

The ship fully complies with all the national and international safety requirements of the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and can operate area restrictions free.

The tanker is named after one of the world’s largest and deepest freshwater lakes – one of the symbols of Russia.

Sovcomflot is operating the fourth largest fleet (by dwt) in the world in the segment of Suezmax tankers and is placing orders for such ships as a result of the demands of Russia’s cargo base and from the growing possibilities from Russia’s oil ports.

The construction of such vessels at Russia’s shipyards has not been possible till recent time. However, new shipbuilding facilities which have appeared in Russia, will allow the Russian Federation to plan the building of large tankers from 2014.

Today SCF group remains the largest customer of Russia’s shipyards, for the ordering of merchant vessels. The line of ships, completed and under construction, ordered by the company at Russian shipyards, includes product carriers of MR class, unique shuttle tankers of a high ice class to serve oil and gas offshore fields of the Arctic region, and port tugs. Sovcomflot cooperates both with the yards, with members of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (Admiralty Shipyards), and private enterprises (Pella shipyard).

Sovcomflot (SCF) Group –is one of Russia’s largest infrastructure enterprises. Its fleet comprises 147 vessels of more than 10 million tonnes (dwt) in total; its current shipbuilding portfolio includes 13 ships of an aggregate deadweight of 1.1 million tonnes (dwt);

• The average age of vessels in the tanker fleet is seven years (the world average age is 12 years);
• SCF Group is a world leader 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 company owns the largest ice-class fleet, being No.1 in the segment of the Arctic shuttle tankers and ice-classed LNG tankers;
• 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.