Russian River News

Three years ago, an Ecospeed hull coating was applied on Antarctic, a shallow draft anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessel owned by Ark Shipping Company. The success of this application led the vessel's owner to order the same protection for its next two shallow draught AHTS vessels: Polar and Polus. Building of these vessels will start in 2021 and will again take place at the Atlas Shipyard in Kocaeli, Turkey.Ark Shipping is a Russian river and sea shipping company that has been operating in the transport and logistics market since 1992.

A clash between trading house Vitol and Azerbaijan's SOCAR over Caspian Sea oil shipments is forcing Turkmenistan to slash exports of crude due to a lack of tankers.Turkmenistan typically exports about 200,000 tonnes of oil per month via the Caspian to world markets, mainly from fields operated by the UAE's ENOC and Italy's Eni, but flows have halved in recent weeks, six traders involved in operations said.That happened after Turkmen producers decided to export oil via Russia with the help of Swiss trader Vitol and ditch the previous Azeri route…

With the loading of eight custom-made Damen tugs, German heavy lift company Combi Lift reached a milestone in the Gazprom Amur Gas Processing Plant Project in Russia. This officially marks the transition period between the project’s planning and implementation stages.Combi Lift, contracted by the Linde Group as the exclusive logistics partner for oversized and heavy cargo, chose to cooperate with SAL Heavy Lift in this project. On behalf of Combi Lift, SAL’s Type 161B vessel MV Annette loaded eight newly built tugs in the Waalhaven in the Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

OJSC Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) has been selected as the key steel supplier in the construction of nuclear icebreakers (Project 22220) at the Baltic Shipyard, part of United Shipbuilding Corporation. A 60MW universal nuclear icebreaker known as Arctic – Project 22220’s leading ship – is currently under construction at the shipyard. The icebreaker’s displacement will amount to up to 33.5 thousand metric tons, and it will reach speeds of up to 22 knots in open water. This new generation of icebreaker will be equipped with two nuclear reactors, each with a thermal capacity of 175 MW. It will also be able to break ice of up to three meters thick, opening up the Northern Sea Route virtually all year round, and enabling the delivery of hydrocarbons from their northernmost deposits.

The Russian Joint Venture between Rosneft, Sberbank Investments and Pietro Barbaro S.p.A. closed the acquisition of the Pietro Barbaro Group shipping assets in the Russian Federation (100% share of Prime Shipping group of companies). Prime Shipping is one of the leaders of the Russian river and sea transportation tanker market. The deal was financed by Sberbank. The acquisition of a logistics asset will allow Rosneft to strengthen its positions in the river transportation market and enhance the efficiency of operations, including that in the area of oil and oil products trading, and secure tanker fleet transportation. In particular, modern fleet of Prime Shipping will enable optimization of Rosneft’s transport charges…

Global motor maker Regal has won type approval for its RN and RF series marine motors from the Russian River Register, one of the biggest classification societies in the world for inland waterway vessels. This complements approvals already granted from the other ship and vessel standard organizations including Bureau Veritas, American Bureau of Shipping, Lloyds Register, Germanische Lloyds, Det Norske Veritas, China Classification Society and Russian maritime register of shipping.

The inland waterways of Russia can now benefit form a new standard of safety equipment following the approval granted to the Survitec Group’s Survitec Zodiac brand by the Russian River Register (RRR). The approval was granted after inspectors from the Register completed a detailed study of the liferafts, escape slides and rescue boats manufactured by Survitec Group under the Survitec Zodiac brand. This included verifying their reliability, manufacturing processes and quality control methods employed at the company’s facility in Chevanceaux, France.

The world’s leading maritime service network Wilhelmsen Ships has reached its first service and supply agreement in the Russian river fleet market. The agreement, which was managed by the company’s team in Eastern Europe, covers delivery of a broad range of Unitor branded marine products to Volga-Neva’s 118-strong fleet of river vessels. Following several months of negotiations, Wilhelmsen Ships Service’s team in St. Petersburg, headed by Slava Khobta, was successful in its bid to supply its marine products to this major operator’s fleet of dry cargo river vessels. These vessels trade in Russia’s extensive network of rivers, through St. Petersburg and out into the Baltic and North Sea. (www.wilhelmsen.com)

Aquarius cruise ship from Russia is coming into operation in 2009. Vodohod Russian River Cruises has recently launched a revolutionary project. The company started the construction of the first Russian luxe-class cruise motorship 4. The construction is entrusted to a well known European shipbuilder, long professional experience of this company is a guarantee of success. The new four deck motorship will accommodate 210 guests at once. It is going to be one of the top ships in Russia with luxurious décor, large well appointed cabins, elegant public areas, wide circular stairs and lift. According to the construction schedule, Aquarius will appear on the Russian market in May 2009.