OREANDA-NEWS. June 07, 2010. The “Aktobe” tanker triumphantly arrived in the home port Aktau. The vessel has been built in record-breaking time at one of the oldest Nizhniy Novgorod shipyards – “Krasnoye Sormovo”. This is the second tanker of the three-tanker series being built at this shipyard. For the moment, the tankers of this series are the largest on the Caspian Sea in terms of carrying capacity.

Among those who arrived to congratulate the team of JSC NMSC “Kazmortransflot” (a wholly-owned subsidiary of JSC NC “KazMunayGas”) on this important event, there were Akim of the Mangistau oblast Krymbek Kusherbayev, Managing Director of JSC NWF “Samruk-Kazyna” Ulan Baizhanov, Managing Director (Member of the Management Board) of JSC NC “KazMunayGas” Bolat Nazarov, General Directors of the subsidiaries of JSC NC KMG, representatives of the “Krasnoye Sormovo” shipbuilding factory, and other official partners.

General Director of JSC "NMSK "Kazmortransflot" Marat Ormanov addressed the participants of the event.

- This is a special event to the Kazakh people, since the tankers built in Nizhniy Novgorod are the first Kazakhstan’s vessels of such a deadweight that should become the flagships of the sovereign Kazakhstan’s fleet, - M. Ormanov said. - I would like to express special gratitude to the representatives of the factory, who have proven the craftsmanship of the Russian shipwrights with their painstaking work, - he added.

With a view to improving the technical characteristics of the tanker, a lot of changes were made during its designing and construction, for example, the leading-edge systems employing new technology and improving the vessel’s performance were installed. For example, the nitrogen-type inert gas system, automatic crude oil washing of tanks, tank-heating system, computer-controlled handling system, leading-edge radio navigation facilities, etc. improve safe operation of the tanker.

By tradition, the tanker has been named after one of Kazakhstan’s cities. It will bear the name “Aktobe”, one of the RoK’s major and oldest cities. Deputy of Majilis of the RoK Parliament Svetlana Ferkho became its “godmother”. She managed to break the symbolic bottle of champagne against the ship’s side on the first try, which is a good sign for seamen.

Later in the day, after the festive events were over, the tanker tied up for loading of the Kazakh oil, and will follow the Aktau-Makhachkala route.