Russia’s Sovcomflot (SCF) has held a naming ceremony for a new icebreaker supply vessel built by the Arctech Helsinki Shipyard. Sovcomflot said on October 12, 2017, that the construction deal for the 4 vessels was contracted to United Shipbuilding Corporation, with the actual construction being carried out by its subsidiary, Arctech Helsinki Shipyard.
The new icebreaker was named after a Russian naval commander, Admiral Fyodor Ushakov, who during his military career, played one of the key roles in the founding of the port of Sevastopol.
The vessels in this series are specially designed for operations in difficult icy conditions of the Sea of Okhotsk.
Sovcomflot said that the design and equipment of the vessel enabled year-round operations on the Sakhalin-2 offshore project.
The ceremony was attended by the United Shipbuilding Corporation president Alexey Rakhmanov, deputy CEO of Sovcomflot Igor Tonkovidov and head of the Sakhalin Energy offshore facilities production department Paul Eykhaut.
Fedor Ushakov is the 3rd in a series of 4 icebreaking supply vessels commissioned by SCF under a long-term agreement with Sakhalin Energy.
2 of these vessels have already been delivered, the Gennadiy Nevelskoy in the spring of 2017, and Stepan Makarov in the summer of 2017.
Rakhmanov said: «Fedor Ushakov is a continuation of our cooperation with Sovcomflot... I’m sure the ship will be in demand within the Sakhalin-2 project, and the scope of the work there is large.»
SCF currently operates 10 vessels that serve Sakhalin-2, 3 of which are oil tankers, 2 are LNG carriers, and 5 are icebreaking supply and standby vessels.
