STX Europe has, through its wholly owned subsidiary STX Norway Offshore AS, signed contracts to build three icebreaker tugs for JSC Circle Marine Invest. The subsidiary company, Caspian Offshore Construction in Kazakhstan will operate the vessels in the Kashagan field of the northern Caspian Sea. The vessels will be delivered in 2010 and 2011, and the total value of the three contracts amounts to approximately $111.5m.
The vessels are designed by the STX Europe subsidiary Aker Arctic, and have a length of 213 ft and a beam of 53.8 ft. The vessels will have the Ice class notification 1A* Super, according to the Finnish-Swedish Ice classification rules. Further, the vessels will be equipped and designed for other operations like fire fighting, rescue operation and towing in shallow waters.
(www.stxeurope.com)