OREANDA-NEWS. August 11, 2011. JSC Latvijas kugnieciba (LSC) took delivery of its latest new build tanker, Zemgale, from Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co., Ltd shipyard in Korea. This completes the first stage of its fleet renewal programme. Over the last six years LSC has been able to reduce the average age of their fleet from 17.5 years to 5 years now, which is a prerequisite for competitiveness in the global market.

‘Zemgale’ is the second new tanker of LSC fleet received in summer 2011. The new tanker is 52000 DWT, it is intended to move oil and chemicals around the world, including the seas and oceans of ice regions.

‘Seafaring is an essential part of the Latvian national heritage. Therefore we feel particularly proud that LSC’s fleet is being steadily updated to regain its global competitiveness,’ says Paul Thomas, Chairman of the Board, LSC.

The new tanker, similar as its one month older relative ‘Latgale’, is named after one of four regions in Latvia. Naming LSC ships with names of Latvian regions or urban places is a continuation of a Latvian shipping tradition. Other examples of vessel names within the LSC fleet are Kuldiga, Jurkalne, Ainazi, Salacgriva and Kolka and others.

The tanker fleet renewal programme’s focus is to provide younger and more efficient fleet, while paying attention to the improvement of environmental protection standards through more efficient consumption of energy while minimizing environmental risks caused by shipping.

Currently LSC owns 20 modern tankers employing more than one thousand well trained and experienced Latvian seamen. In total, the commercial fleet of Latvian Shipping Company consists of 22 tankers, as LSC operates two tankers that belong to other ship owners. The total deadweight of the fleet is close to one million DWT.