South Korean shipyard STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. has handed over the LNG carrier SCF Melampus to Russian shipping company Sovcomflot. The ship is the third in a series of ultra-modern LNG carriers designed to perform regular, year-round shipments of liquefied natural gas.
Two ships in the series, the Velikiy Novgorod and Pskov, are already successfully operating under long-term contracts with Gazprom. The fourth ship in the series, the SCF Mitre, is slated for delivery to Sovcomflot in the second quarter of 2015.
The features of the new Atlanticmax LNG tanker, with a load capacity of 170,200 cubic meters, include triple-fuel diesel electric propulsion plant, which is intended to ensure its effective operation in Arctic conditions.
With reinforced Ice2 class, ships in this series are equipped to work in low temperatures and in harsh climatic conditions and are able to ship gas from most existing export terminals year-round. Moreover, the SCF Melampus meets the highest class of environmental protection, according to Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS).
The ship was built to the dual class of RS and Lloyd’s Register (LR) under the survey of a joint group of surveyors, where RS was acting as the leading society.