OREANDA-NEWS. September 29, 2010. SCF Group added a modern and technologically advanced Aframax tanker to its fleet. The vessel is named Moskovsky Prospect.

The official naming ceremony, which took place at the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard (Republic of Korea), was attended by Natalya Gordeeva, head of the Admiralty district of St. Petersburg, senior managers from Sovcomflot and Unicom, Captain Aleksey Kirzhemanov, the crew of the ship and representatives of the shipyard.

Moskovsky Prospect, a 114,100 tonnes dwt tanker, of 1B ice class (based on international classification) is 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 in the Far East, including the transportation of hydrocarbons from the ports of Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Kozmino. The ship fully complies with all national and international safety standards of the DNV Classification society.

The addition of Aframax tankers to SCF Group’s, vessels which are in high demand in both 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.

It was an Aframax tanker, owned by SCF Group – SCF Baltica, which recently became the largest vessel in history to make a voyage with cargo along the Northern Sea Route from Murmansk to Ningbo (China).

As of today, Sovcomflot is operating 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 in the North Western, Far Eastern and Southern regions of Russia.

The construction of vessels of this size is not yet possible at existing Russian shipyards. However, with the construction of new shipbuilding facilities in Russia’s Far Eastern region, the building of such large-capacity tankers in Russia should be possible by 2014.

SCF Group is one of Russia’s largest infrastructure companies. Its fleet comprises 147 vessels (more than 10.7 million tonnes dwt in total). Its current shipbuilding programme includes eight vessels (0.62 million tonnes dwt in total):
- The company has the largest fleet for operating in ice conditions, being No.1 operator of Arctic shuttle tankers, as well as ice-class LNG carriers.
- SCF Group is the largest operator in the product tanker industry, holding second place in the Aframax and fourth place in the Suezmax tanker segments.
- The company provides its customers with hydrocarbon transportation services; crude-oil trans-shipment using floating oil storage vessels; services for the development of effective logistics for energy resource transportation, and specialised vessels for servicing offshore drilling and extraction platforms.
- The average age of tanker in the fleet is approximately 6.5 years (with the world average age being 12 years).