LR to Class Double-Acting Shuttle Tankers

A pair of 70,000 dwt double-acting ice-class shuttle tankers ordered at Admiralty Shipyards in St Petersburg for year-round service between the Pechora Sea and Murmansk are to be dually classed by Lloyd’s Register and Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS).

Sevmorneftegaz (wholly owned by Gazprom), Sovcomflot and Admiralty Shipyards have signed a trilateral contract for the building of the two Arctic shuttle tankers. The vessels will transport oil from the Prirazlomnoye oil field in the Pechora Sea and are due for delivery in 2008.

The principles of co-operation for dual classification by Lloyd’s Register and RS were formally agreed between the two societies at RS’ St Petersburg headquarters earlier this year. The double-acting shuttle tankers are the first co-operation between Lloyd’s Register and RS under the terms of the agreement, covering both new construction and the survey of ships in service.

“We believe that this project will demonstrate the potential for co-operation between our two societies to provide services for operation in severe ice and cold regimes in Russian sea areas and is an important classification reference for both Lloyd’s Register and RS,” says Boris Ozerov, Marine Business Manager for Russia in Lloyd’s Register EMEA’s St Petersburg office. “We anticipate that this project will be the first in a series of co-operative projects with RS that will benefit the marine industry as a whole.”

“We are very pleased to be working with Lloyd’s Register on a prestigious project for Russian industry as well as ourselves,” says Vladimir Evenko, Vice-Director General, RS. “We are especially pleased to be co-operating with Lloyd’s Register in a practical way on a project where the technical strengths of each society will be applied to the benefit of all the project stakeholders.”

This ship order is well aligned with Sovcomflot’s publicly announced strategic objective to be the world’s number one company in shuttle transportation in Arctic and ice navigation by 2008. Commenting on the dual classing arrangement, Sergey Popravko, COO of Sovcomflot, says: “Each of the selected class societies brings its own strengths to the table. We are convinced that the new co-operation between RS and Lloyd’s Register provides the best combination of technical strengths to ensure the success of this important project.”

The shuttle tankers at Admiralty Shipyards will be built to RS LU6 ice class standard and will comply with RS’ latest requirements for double-acting ships. Lloyd’s Register will verify the structural and fatigue performance of the hull structure and apply a series of class notations for special features including dynamic positioning and the bow loading system. Lloyd’s Register’s Environmental Protection notation will also be assigned to indicate that the vessels comply with the highest standards for protective location of fuel oil tanks and other systems.

Both tankers are intended to serve the Prirazlomnoye oil production platform in the Pechora Sea to transport oil to a floating storage and offloading unit in open water moored offshore from the Port of Murmansk. The Prirazlomnoye field is expected to produce up to 7.5 million tonnes of oil by 2012, and it is estimated that the field reserves for shuttle tanker operations will last 22 years.