OREANDA-NEWS. December 01, 2010. SCF Group added a modern and technologically advanced large-capacity Aframax tanker to its fleet. The vessel is named Primorsky Prospect.

The official naming ceremony, which took place at the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard (Republic of Korea), was attended by the top managers of SCF Group and Unicom, Captain Leonid Pivovarov and his crew and representatives of the shipyard. Valeriya Parshina, head of resuscitation and intensive care department of the children’s city hospital of St.Olga (St.Petersburg) – a hospital for many years sponsored by SCF Group – became the “Godmother” of the ship.

Primorsky 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.

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 at Russian shipyards (Zvezda-DSME, Primorsk region) should be possible after 2012 . Sovcomflot has already signed a contract with the yard for the construction of a series of Aframax and LR2 tankers.

Primorsky Prospect – is a major street in the Northern part of St. Petersburg. At the beginning of the 19th century Primorsky Prospect was a part of the road named “Road from Sistrebek” (modern Sestroretsk). On 30 July 1947 the street was named Primorsky Prospect.

SCF Group is one of Russia’s largest infrastructure companies with the headquarters in St.Petersburg. Its fleet comprises 148 vessels (about 11 million tonnes dwt in total). Its current shipbuilding programme includes 16 vessels (1.5 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 (by deadweight) operator in the product tanker industry, holding a leading place in the Aframax and 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).