Sovcomflot Receives Newest Arctic Shuttle Tanker

Russian shipping company Sovcomflot held a naming and flag raising ceremony for its newest Arctic shuttle tanker on October 6 in Vladivostok.

The 41,000 dwt handy tanker Mikhail Lazarev was named after being delivered by South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) in late September.

The tanker will transport crude oil for the Novy Port project, under an agreement between Sovcomflot and Gazprom Neft.

Mikhail Lazarev is the seventh handy tanker built by SHI for Sovcomflot, according to VesselsValue data. The first three units were delivered in 2016 and are transporting oil through the Northern Sea Route.

The South Korean shipbuilder has built a further three units in the series for Gazprom Neft and the Novy Port project. The ships were delivered in 2017.

The Arc7 ice class tankers are capable of sailing through ice as thick as 1.8 meters while operating at temperatures below -40°C.

Mikhail Lazarev flies the Russian flag and has a length of 248 meters. Sovcomflot has a total of 23 handy tankers in its fleet.