Russian shipping major Sovcomflot is to place orders for three new-generation MR product carriers using LNG as their main fuel.
Namely, the company’s Board of Directors approved transactions with Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex and a subsidiary of JSC VEB Leasing to order the units.
The first of the vessels are scheduled for delivery in 2022. The units would be employed under twenty-year time-charter agreements with a subsidiary of PJSC Novatek.
“The introduction of “green” technologies for energy shipping is one of the priorities provided for by the development strategy of our company for the period up to 2025,” Sergey Frank, President and CEO of Sovcomflot, said.
The company already operates a series of the world’s first Aframax-class tankers to use LNG as fuel. Five more of SCF’s “green” series vessels will be built at Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex and put into operation from 2022 to 2023.