Okhotsk News

In the early morning hours of September 26, 2022, seismologists located throughout northern Europe detected two disturbances originating in the Baltic Sea that were consistent with underwater explosions. Within hours, an aerial image captured by a passing Danish F-16 showed an expanse of frothy seawater, suggesting that the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines had experienced a catastrophic event. Within days, an investigation by the Swedish Security Service concluded that both pipelines had sustained extensive damage due to an act of gross sabotage.

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday touted Russia's Arctic power at a flag-raising ceremony and dock launch for two nuclear-powered icebreakers that will ensure year-round navigation in the Western Arctic.Presiding via video link from the Kremlin at the launch ceremony in the former imperial capital of St Petersburg in northern Russia, Putin said such icebreakers were of strategic importance for the country."Both icebreakers were laid down as part of a large serial project and are part of our large-scale…

Russian warships entered the Barents Sea on Wednesday to rehearse protecting a major shipping lane in the Arctic, its Northern Fleet said on Wednesday, as Moscow stages sweeping military exercises involving all of its fleets.Russian military moves are being closely watched by the West at a time when a troop build-up near its border with Ukraine has sparked fears of a conflict. Moscow has denied it plans to launch an attack on Ukraine.Moscow said last week it would stage a series of drills involving all its fleets in the seas directly adjacent to Russia.

Russia announced on Thursday its navy would stage a sweeping set of exercises involving all its fleets this month and next from the Pacific to the Atlantic, the latest show of strength in a surge of military activity during a standoff with the West.The drills will take place in the seas directly adjacent to Russia and also feature maneuvers in the Mediterranean, the North Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk, the northeast Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific, it said.They will draw on 140 warships and support vessels…

PAO Sovcomflot (SCF Group) signed a $110 million credit facility, for 10 years, with ING BANK N.V., SMBC BANK EU AG and UNICREDIT BANK AG, to finance two new ice-class shuttle tankers.The ships, scheduled to be delivered in Q1 2022, will serve the Sakhalin-1 project (oil and gas development in the Sea of Okhotsk, on the north-eastern shelf of Sakhalin Island, Russia. Exxon Neftegas Ltd. (an affiliate of Exxon Mobil) is the project’s operator and acts as the charterer for the vessels.

Shipbuilding group Damen said it has delivered the 111-meter Damen Stan Pontoon 11226 RD mega-barge Tomsk to heavy lift and project cargo shipping company Combi Lift. The barge will be used in the construction of Gazprom’s Amur Gas Processing Plant near Russia’s eastern border, transporting some of the largest components to the site.This contract follows a 19 vessel order placed with Damen by Combi Lift that was delivered in May 2018. It was comprised of four Multi Cat 2608SD workboats, four Pusher Tugs 2612SD, four Side Floaters 8605SD and seven 89-meter Stan Pontoons 8916SD.

“Freedom” – the absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic governmentIt has been decades since international relations in the world order dictated true competition for sea control, sea lines of communication, access to world markets, and diplomatic partnerships. However, it is becoming increasingly alarming that nations such as Iran, China and Russia seek to accumulate/consolidate power and re-define international maritime norms, potentially at the peril of diplomatic…

Tersan Shipyard in Turkey has signed a contract to build a new 108-meter freezer stern trawler for one of Russia's leading fishing companies. OKEANRYBFLOT's new trawler is slated for delivery in mid-2022 and will be the sister vessel to newbuild no. 1096 planned to be launched in June this year.The ST-191L design from Skipsteknisk is a 108- by 20-meter factory trawler, with accommodation for up to 150 persons on board. The vessel will be equipped with two main engines, each 4,060 kW, driving one CP propeller.

Russian state-controlled shipowner Sovcomflot (SCF) has named the 174,000m³ SCF La Perouse - the first of three LNG tankers on order with South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI).The LNG carrier named after Jean-François de la Pérouse, a French explorer of the Pacific.The vessel will operate under a long-term time charter agreement with Total. The event was held at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries’ shipyard, Republic of Korea. Fleur-Eve Durin le Foll, the spouse of Total’s Country Chair Russia, is the vessel’s sponsor.Sergey Frank, Chairman of the Board of Directors of PAO Sovcomflot, said: “Sovcomflot and Total have enjoyed a strong partnership for many years, and we are happy to have an opportunity to expand this cooperation.

An tanker picked up seven crew embers from a sinking fishing vessel in the Gulf of Finland.While en-route from the Port of Ust-Luga to Copenhagen on February 6, the tanker SСF Angara received a distress signal from the Russian fishing trawler Pongoma, which was sinking on the traverse of Tallinn, 26 nautical miles offshore, SCF Group said on Monday.The tanker and her crew, under the leadership of master Alexey Maksimovsky, responded to the request for help, and following the instructions received from the rescue center in Tallinn, diverted to assist the ship in distress.During a rescue operation, all seven members of Pongoma’s crew were brought aboard the tanker. Two fishermen in need of urgent medical care were then evacuated by helicopter to Helsinki.

Russian oil and gas exploration company Gazprom Neft has completed ecological monitoring of grey whale populations at the Ayashsky license block, offshore from Sakhalin Island, with expedition members registering more than 550 animals in the course of a five-month survey.According to a press release, the ecological monitoring of grey whales in the Sea of Okhotsk forms part of a joint programme being implemented by oil and gas companies operating in Sakhalin. Gazprom Neft joined the programme in 2017, on starting development of its Ayashsky license block.Researchers conducted 58 sorties on the Siem Sapphire support vessel between June and October…

FESCO Transportation Group, the largest intermodal transport operator in Russia, announced that a new container ship of ice class  ESCO Moneron has recently joined the fleet.The national flag of the Russian Federation was raised on the ship on 21 November 2019.Container ship with a capacity of 822 TEU will be operated on FESCO Magadan cabotage service (FML), that already includes FESCO Magadan sister ship, purchased last year, and FESCO Posyet universal bulk carrier.FESCO Moneron container ship is planned to be put on the line in the end of 2019 or in the beginning of 2020 at the latest.Arc4 ice class of the vessel complies with the standards needed for work in the northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk in winter. The ship is fitted with modern equipment and has a high degree of automation.

Russian maritime shipping company specializing in petroleum and LNG shipping Sovcomflot (SCF Group) and NYK Line have announced that they have signed a new $176 million non-recourse credit facility for eight years with three leading international banks.The banks are: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. of Japan (through its German subsidiary, SMBC Bank EU AG); Société Générale of France; and Shinsei Bank of Japan. The agreement was reportedly signed through joint venture companies belonging to SCF Group and NYK Line.The facility will be used towards refinancing two ice-class LNG carriers servicing the Sakhalin-2 project, Grand Aniva and her sister ship Grand Elena, which are jointly owned and operated by SCF Group and NYK Line.

ABB has won a contract to supply ABB Ability Remote Diagnostic Systems for Marine to eleven Sovcomflot vessels operating in the Arctic and Russia’s Far East, helping optimize safety and performance through 24/7 remote support.Sovcomflot’s vessels will be among over 1,000 ships connected to ABB Ability Collaborative Operation Centers worldwide. From here, ABB experts monitor operational shipboard systems, coordinate remote equipment diagnostics and offer predictive maintenance services – 24/7. This can be especially crucial for vessels operating in remote areas.

FESCO Transportation Group, the largest intermodal transport operator in Russia, announced that the ice-class container vessel “FESCO Magadan”, with full capacity of 822 TEU, joined its fleet."The flag of the Russian Federation was solemnly raised on the ship on July 2, the day of the formation of the city of Vladivostok," said a press note from the public transportation and logistics company.The container ship will be operated on FESCO cabotage service “FESCO Magadan Line”. The launch of this container carrier on “FESCO Magadan Line” is scheduled for August, 2019.The ice rate meets the standards required for operation in the northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk during winter-time.

As the North American offshore wind model evolves, it is clear that fit-for-purpose, Jones Act compliant and Arctic ready tonnage will need to be part of the equation. If so, we’ve got that box checked, with a little help from Europe.As of September 2018, the Walney Extension off the United Kingdom is the largest offshore wind farm in the world at 659 megawatts. There are at least 70 major wind farms, each with hundreds of wind turbines, each generating as much as 10 megawatts in offshore England, the North Sea, Russia and China.

Russian maritime shipping company specializing in petroleum and LNG shipping Sovcomflot (SCF Group) said that Yevgeny Primakov (Icebreaker Ice-15) joined the fleet, the final vessel in a series of four new generation IBSV’s, engaged under a long-term time-charter agreement with Sakhalin Energy.The shipping company added that this makes a total fleet of 10 supply and standby vessels servicing Nogliki Base Camp (SEIC and ENL) at Sakhalin island (Sea of Okhotsk).The world’s first Aframax tanker to use LNG as her primary fuel Gagarin Prospect (114,000 DWT) entered service (July) on long-term time charter to Shell. In last October, Gagarin Prospect completed her first commercial voyage using LNG fuel…

A ceremony raising the flag of the Russian Federation and naming a new multifunctional icebreaking platform supply vessel, Yevgeny Primakov, took place on February 3, 2018 in Saint Petersburg. The vessel was built by Arctech Helsinki Shipyard, a subsidiary of the United Shipbuilding Corporation; technical supervision was carried out by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS), which assigned the vessel a high ice class – Icebreaker6. Yevgeny Primakov’s design and construction…

Russia’s PAO Sovcomflot (SCF Group) currently operates 10 vessels that serve the Sakhalin-2 project, including three oil tankers, two liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and five icebreaking supply and standby vessels. Its latest addition to this specialized fleet, a newly built multifunctional icebreaking standby vessel (IBSBV), was formally named Fedor Ushakov at a ceremony on October 11. The vessel is the third in a series of four IBSBVs purpose-designed for operating in the…

Built by Arctech Helsinki Shipyard, the Russian flagged Gennadiy Nevelskoy (deadweight 3,000 metric tons) will home port in Saint Petersburg and was commissioned by SCF under a long-term agreement with Sakhalin Energy. She is the first of four vessels for operations at the Sakhalin-2 project; the other three are ice-breaking standby vessels (IBSBVs) that have a smaller deadweight (2,000 metric tons), but offer enhanced functionality and a higher people-on-board capacity. The agreement between Sovcomflot and Sakhalin Energy…

PAO Sovcomflot, Asea Brown Boveri Ltd. (ABB) Company and the Admiral Nevelskoy Maritime State University (MSU) have signed an agreement for research, technological and educational partnership. The document provides for the establishment of the Marine Propulsion Simulation Centre at MSU in Vladivostok. The operations of this centre which will be focused on preparing staff for work on vessels equipped with Azipod propulsion units. The agreement was signed by Sergey Frank, President and CEO of Sovcomflot, Sergey Ogay, Rector of MSU, and Anatoly Popov, Managing Director of ABB in Russia. As part of this agreement, ABB will provide MSU with the equipment designed to simulate the operation of Azipod vessel electric power and propulsion units and provide further assistance with its installation…

Russia’s PAO Sovcomflot (SCF Group) subsidiary SCF Tankers Ltd. has won an auction for nine arctic-going tankers that belonged Primorsk International Shipping Ltd. (PRISCO), who filed for chapter 11 protection in January 2016. The purchase deal is worth $215 million, and the auction results have been approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, which is handling PRISCO’s bankruptcy case. SCF Tankers outbid Denmark’s Hafnia Tankers Ltd., who submitted a $208 million offer, the Wall Street Journal reported. The nine ships comprise one Aframax crude oil tanker: Zaliv Amerika (104,535-dwt); three LR2 oil product tankers: Zaliv Amurskiy (104…

On June 30, 2016 a new icebreaking supply vessel (IBSV) was launched for Sovcomflot as part of a long-term agreement with Sakhalin Energy. Due to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2016, this reinforced ice class vessel has deadweight of 3,000 metric tons and an Azipod propulsion system with a power rating of 13 MW. The icebreaker is the first of four vessels that Sovcomflot has on order from United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) for operations at the Sakhalin-2 project. The vessels are being constructed by USC-affiliated shipyards Vyborg Shipyard and Arctech Helsinki Shipyard Oy. The construction of all four vessels began in 2015.