A shuttle tanker owned by Russia's SCF Group won the first designation for the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) new standard for ice class ships.
The 42,000-dwt Shturman Albanov (built 2016) was given the Polar Ship certification from the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping. The IMO's new Polar Code will enter into force 1 January 2017 with a transition period until 2018.
The MR tanker is designed to withstand temperatures down to minus 45 degrees celsius (minus 49 degrees Fahrenheit), is equipped with two azimuth thrusters for icebreaking capability, and has communications equipment capable of working at high latitudes.
Designed for Yamal-Murmansk run
The Sergey Frank-led owner ordered a total of the ice-class six Arc7 vessels, three from Samsung Heavy Industries and three from Russian shipbuilders, to serve the short-haul sea route through the Barants and Kara Seas.
The ships are backed with long-term contracts with Gazprom Neft to carry crude oil year-round from the Novy Port oil and gas condensate field on the Yamal Peninsula in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District via the Arctic Gate terminal to the port of Murmansk.
