OREANDA-NEWS. September 03, 2012.   The Russian holding VBTH has commissioned into service the 5,039DWT Serdolic (Cornelian), the eighth vessel in a series of multipurpose seagoing dry cargo ships of DCV36 project built at China’s Qingdao Hyundai Shipbuilding (QHS), the project designer Marine Engineering Bureau said.

Contract for the construction was signed on January 30, 2009. Steel-cutting ceremony was held on December 24, 2009 at QHS, keel-laying - on September 13, 2010, a launching and naming ceremony – on December 20, 2011.

The innovative DCV36 project vessels with increased deadweight were designed for transportation of seaborne general and bulk cargo, including 20’ and 40’ containers with height of up to 9.5 foot (including reefer containers), metal, grain, timber, coal, bulk and heavy-lift cargo, dangerous goods of 1.4S, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.1, 8, 9, and Annex "B" to the International Code of Safety for High Speed Craft. The vessel project was designed to the class of Russian Maritime Register of Shipping KM AUT1 Ice 3. The DCV36 project bulker has unlimited navigation area.


The DCV36 bulker is a modern single-deck, single-hold and single-screw motor ship of unrestricted navigation area (versus the same class vessels of projects RSD44 RSD49), which has forecastle and poop, aft based deckhouse and engine room, double bottom and double sides in cargo holds area, removable grain bulkheads with bulb fore and transom aft ends, with Cargotec’s side-rolling hatch covers, with bow thruster.

Ship’s general characteristic:
LOA - 89.96 m;
Beam - 14.5 m;
Depth - 7.5 m;
LWL - 6.4 m, the draft DWT – 5026 t.

Cargo hold dimensions - 60 x 11.5 x 9.2 m, which allows placement of 3 tiers of 9.5-foot containers, and also provides for transportation of large-sized cargoes. Cargo holds capacity - 6230 cbm. Double bottom is designed for distributed load intensity of 14.0 t / sqm and for bucket grab usage.

The lead ship of Project DCV36 the Amethyst was laid down at the Chinese shipyard on November 16, 2009, launched on May 17, 2010 and commissioned on April 22, 2011. VBTH commissioned the sixth bulker of the project (the M/V Nephrite) on April 10, 2012.

Volga-Balt Transport Holding is majority owned by Universal Cargo Logistics Holding, consolidating a number of Russian shipping (North-Western Shipping Company, Volga Shipping, VF Tanker, etc.), stevedoring and shipping assets (Nevsky Zavod, Oka Shipyard, Borremflot, etc.).

Dutch-registered Universal Cargo Logistics Holding (UCL Holding) is an international transport group comprising a number of shipping, shipbuilding, railway, logistics and stevedoring companies based in Russia. The Group owns terminals at Sea Port Saint-Petersburg and Universal Handling Complex in the North-West Russia; southern ports of Tuapse and Taganrog. UCLH is a majority owner of Volga-Balt Transport Holding (VBTH).

Marine Engineering Bureau is a private naval architecture and marine engineering firm recognized by Russian Maritime Register of Shipping Russian River Register and Register of Shipping Ukraine.