The first Polar Ship Certificate was issued by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS). The document was released by Murmansk Branch on 22 December, 2016 in the port of Murmansk to the tanker Shturman Albanov, owned by SCF Group.
In connection with the Polar Code entering into force, the compliance with the requirements thereof is a precondition for ships operated in the Barents Sea, Cara Sea water area south of 60 S and in other seas included in the polar water.
The Polar Ship Certificate confirms the ship’s compliance with the Code requirements related the safe navigation – for instance, the of the ship’s hull to withstand severe temperature and ice conditions, sufficiency of anti-ice arrangements, the ability of ship’s navigation systems and communication systems to provide the ship with the required information at the high latitudes.
Shturman Albanov is a lead ship of series of Arctic shuttle tankers (pr. 42K Arctic Shuttle Tanker) intended for delivery of crude oil from Yamal Peninsula (the Yamal- Nenets Autonomous District) to the port of Murmansk. The tanker’s deadweight is about 42 000 t. This is the navigation first ever tanker featured to ensure the year-round hydrocarbon transportation from the Golf of Ob. Shturman Albanov is designed with regard to the characteristics of the Gulf of Ob offshore area, famous for a large number of shoals and relatively shallow depths in some areas of the ship routes – less than 10 meters deep – and ice-covered from October to July. The ship is capable of operating at temperatures down to -45°С, its draft allows for freely manoeuvring in the gulf. The propulsion plant with two Azipod-type azimuth thrusters of 22 MW aggregate rating intended to ensure high icebreaking capacity and good manoeuvrability of the tanker in overcoming ice packs and heavy ice floes.
Konstantin Palnikov, RS Director General, noted:
“In a technical sense, the tanker meets the highest requirements of safe navigation in the Arctic seas. Application of the RS rules allowed to comply with the Polar Code requirements as early as at the design stage due to the fact that our requirements correspond to the Polar Code provision in advance. Thus, the ships having Arc7 in their class notation correspond to the Category A of the Code in respect of compliance with the requirements to hull structure, machinery installation, intact stability and damage stability.
Source: Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS)
