Feature 2 | ICE CLASS Sovcomflot sets it sights on the future


Recent developments in Arctic exploration has lead Russian ship owner Sovcomflot to develop its fleet further.


C onstructing vessels that meet


demands for working in extreme ice conditions


is not new to


Sovcomflot, but taking the skills that they have in this area and pushing them further is now high on the company’s agenda for the future. In 2009 the 70,000dwt Arctic


shuttle tanker Timofey Guzhenko was constructed, the last in a series of three special Arctic tankers that had been built for the Varandey project from Samsung Heavy Industries, South Korea. “Te series had been designed to maintain operations from Lukoil’s Varandey terminal in the Pechora Sea throughout the year, in conditions where the ice covering can be as much as 1.7m thick and the air temperature as low as -45ºC.”, commented Sergey Popravko, senior executive vice president of OAO, Sovcomflot. The new breed of diesel-electric shuttle


Arctic tanker incorporates


a cutaway, icebreaking bow and a hull form specially devised to allow navigation astern in heavy ice. Hull strengthening complies with the new ARC6 notation of the Russian Maritime Register (RS), the follow-on to the former LU6 standard. The vessels were designed in


conjunction with Aker Arctic Technology, Samsung Heavy Industries and the Russian Central Scientific Marine Research and Design Institution in St. Petersburg, and are dual-classed by Russian Maritime Register of Shipping and ABS. The ABS recognition of the ships’ ice-going standard is implicit in the ice-class 1AA notation, and the Society’s Safe Hull and Safe Hull Construction Monitoring criteria have also been brought to bear on the project. Central to the technical design has


been the nomination of twin 10MW Azipod propulsion, powered from a diesel-electric plant based on three main generators of total 26,700kW output. The tanker can make 2.8knots in heavy ice of 1.5m thick, with a snow cover of


The Naval Architect January 2012


such as: stronger intermediate supports on the pipe stack; an increased number of drive shaft bearings; increased strength of the motor stool and dome material, so as to withstand an ambient temperature of -40o


C; stronger motor


bearings and greater wall thicknesses for the drive shaft pipes; plus heaters for electric motors. Heat tracing has been provided for the radar scanners, anemometer and whistles, and antennae are housed in a coiled, heated dome. Combustion air for the engines driving


Sergey Popravko, senior executive vice president of OAO, Sovcomflot comments on ice class activity.


0.2m, and offers a service speed of some 15.7knots in open water conditions. Steam heating


coils are fitted


throughout the cargo tanks, slop tanks and ballast spaces, and also in the fuel oil, lube oil and potable water tanks, to cope with sea water temperatures of -2o


C and extremely low ambient


temperatures. Each ship incorporates a two sea chest arrangement using iceboxes. Winterisation of the deck equipment


is extensive and includes using special steel grades for the hose-handling crane, davits,


anchors and chains,


and high-pressure, electro-hydraulic windlass and mooring winches, plus de-icing lines, hawsepipe steam blowing, hydraulic oil heating and electric heat tracing. The problem of firefighting in extreme low temperatures is addressed by employing special Arctic foam. The cargo, slop and ballast pumps


have been engineered to suit Arctic operating conditions, utilising features


the main generators is preheated and led to each engine by a dedicated duct, so as to prevent overloading under very low ambient temperatures. The machinery spaces are thermally insulated and fitted with steam radiators. The ventilation air intake louvres incorporate anti-icing and anti-clogging heating provisions. The emergency generator,


located


in an insulated and heated room, is designed to be operable with an outside temperature of -40o


C. It provides a power


supply for the boiler, so that the heating of essential systems and equipment in the engine room will not be interrupted in the event of a blackout. The 1000kW harbour generator, moreover, can be manually started and brought to bear on engine room revival, in the aftermath of a major power failure or blackout. The navigation outfit has been


augmented by special provisions to suit the demands of Arctic service, including ice radar, with its scanner mounted on the foremast, night vision infrared camera and associated laser scanner, also fitted on the foremast, and three remote-controlled xenon ice projectors. The vessel also has the requisite receiving and playback facilities for ice navigation and weather charts.


Shtokman and Yamal In the past year developments of the Shtokman and Yamal fields have been at the forefront of Sovcomflot’s development. On 18 June 2010, during


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