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First Russian Aframax Tanker “Vladimir Monomakh” Launched at Zvezda Shipyard
12 May 2020-350x1000.jpg)
The first Russian Aframax tanker “Vladimir Monomakh” was heaved off at the Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex.
The powerful new-generation tanker is designed to transport oil in unrestricted navigation. The vessel is designed in compliance with high environmental safety standards. The main and additional power supply units can operate on both traditional and green fuel, the liquefied natural gas, which meets new world environmental standards.
The length of the vessel is 250 metres, width 44 metres, deadweight 114 thousand tonnes, speed 14.6 knots, ice class ICE-1A. Zvezda’s portfolio already has 12 orders for vessels of such type.
The launch of the first vessel on Zvezda was a unique operation. The Aframax tanker was launched with the Vympel floating transfer dock, one of the largest in Russia. Preparation for the launch took almost a day. Within this time, the tanker was rolled by a vessel trolley-transporter from the open outfitting slip to the floating dock, and then taken to the waters.
The construction history of this type of tankers has begun with the visit of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to the Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex in September 2017. It was then that a package agreement was signed for the design, construction, technical supervision, operation and training of the crews of 10 Aframax class tankers.
On September 11, 2018, in the presence of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, the laying of the first Aframax class tanker with a deadweight of 114 thousand tonnes took place.
Prior to heaving off the first tanker, four Aframax tankers were in production at the heavy outfitting berth, and metal cutting was carried out for the fifth one in February 2020. The vessels are being built for Rosnefteflot. Aframax tankers will be the first of this class built in Russia. The tankers are equipped with the most advanced class A automation system. High sustainability of the tankers is especially important for the work in the Arctic region.
Note for Editors:
The Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex is being implemented by the consortium of investors led by Rosneft Oil Company. The shipyard is being built using fundamentally new technological solutions that will make it one of the most advanced shipbuilding facilities in the world.
The construction of Zvezda is carried out in two stages. The following facilities of the first extended stage have been put into operation: the hull production block, painting cabinets, the open heavy outfitting slipway equipped with a park of unique cranes and a state-of-the-art ship transportation system, and the floating transfer dock.
The workshops built enabled the construction of a number of ships, including the most sophisticated Aframax tankers, before the completion of the second stage.
Commissioning of the second stage will expand the shipyard’s capabilities and allow Zvezda to build vessels and marine equipment without any limitations. The second stage comprises the following: a dry dock and additional full-cycle production shops for construction of large-capacity vessels and marine equipment.
The shipyard overall completion is scheduled for 2024.
Zvezda’s product line includes tankers, gas carriers, drilling platforms, and ice class ships, including the world’s most powerful nuclear icebreakers, the Leaders. The Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex will rival foreign shipyards and provide Russia with a civilian fleet to develop offshore fields and smoothly operate the Northern Sea Route--the shortest route between Europe and Asia.
The Aframax tanker was built at the heavy open outfitting berth. It is an engineering structure of high complexity, one of the largest berths all over the world and the largest one in Russia. It includes three keel tracks with a unique self-moving system of ship carrying.
The slip has already been equipped with four portal jib cranes with a lifting capacity of 320 tonnes, four gantries with a lifting capacity of 100 tonnes, and a unique Goliath crane with a lifting capacity of 1,200 tonnes. The lifting capacity of cranes in other Russian shipyards, in contrast, is only 500 tonnes.
The Aframax tanker was launched with the Vympel floating transfer dock. This state-of-the-art dock was delivered to the Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex on July 24, 2018. The dock is the most important part of the shipyard. It ensures that the Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex is manufacturing ships, which could not have been built at other Russian shipyards before. The dock is unsupported and allows carrying out the longitudinal launching of ships from three different shipyard slipway lines as well as the sideways launching of offshore facilities.
The floating transfer dock is designed for heaving off large-sized marine vessels 300 metres in length and over 50 metres in width, as well as marine equipment, like drilling platforms and their pieces, and ensures high quality and safety of the launch.
The shipyard has about 3,500 employees at the moment, 87% of whom live in the Far East. By 2024 when the construction of all facilities is to be finished, the number of employees will have surpassed 7,000. The shipyard works intensively on stuff recruitment and re-skilling, the social infrastructure development in Bolshoy Kamen and the construction of apartment blocks for employees. 10 buildings are already finished and lived in, and there is an active real estate development in six subdistricts. In general, by 2023, it is planned to build about 5,000 flats and meet the employees’ housing demands completely.
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May 12, 2020