Russia’s Sovcomflot (SCF) has held a naming ceremony on Wednesday for a new icebreaker supply vessel built by the Arctech Helsinki Shipyard.
Sovcomflot said on Thursday that the construction deal for the four 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, according to the history books, did not suffer a single defeat and 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 vessel can also be used as a response vessel for emergencies.
The ceremony was attended by the United Shipbuilding Corporation president Alexey Rakhmanov , deputy CEO and chief engineer of SCF Igor Tonkovidov , and head of the Sakhalin Energy offshore facilities production department Paul Eykhaut .
The christening at the Arctech shipyard was also attended by representatives of the Admiral Ushakov Maritime State University (AUMSU). The vessel’s godmother is Tatyana Timchenko , the vice-rector of AUMSU.
Fedor Ushakov is the third in a series of four icebreaking supply vessels commissioned by SCF under a long-term agreement with Sakhalin Energy. Two of these vessels have already been delivered, the Gennadiy Nevelskoy in the spring of 2017, and Stepan Makarov in the summer of 2017.
The Fedor Ushakov supply vessel will be registered in St. Petersburg and will work under the Russian flag. It will have a crew complement of 28 people.
Rakhmanov said: “Fedor Ushakov is a continuation of our cooperation with Sovcomflot and at the same time the continuation of the glorious traditions of Russian shipbuilding. 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 ten vessels that serve Sakhalin-2, three of which are oil tankers, two are LNG carriers, and five are icebreaking supply and standby vessels.