Kherson Shipyard Launches First-Ever Ukrainian Tanker

Tanker under construction at Kherson Shipyard, Ukraine, image: Kherson Shipyard

On October 19th, a launching ceremony of a RST27 Project Tanker Product-Carrier took place at Ukraine’s Kherson Shipyard (KSY), a division of Smart Maritime.

“For the first time during the independence of Ukraine a serial complete tanker has been built and launched. Kherson Shipbuilders with a good quality and ahead of time have executed the Contractual Commitments and I am convinced that thanks to this, our company enjoys significant prospects in entering into new agreements on construction of modern vessels”, commented Mr. Vasily Fedin, KSY Director General.

The ship was built at a total contract cost of around USD $50 million for the Malta-based SVL Company Group.

The vessel is designed for sea and mixed river-to-sea transportation of crude oil and oil products, including petroleum, with no limit to an ignition temperature, with the provision of 600C to the transported cargo. Simultaneous transportation of two grades of cargo is provided.

During the tanker’s engineering, special requirements of oil companies have been taken into account as well as additional ecological limitations of the Russian Marine Register of Shipping “ECO Project” (ECO-S) have been met.

The Head of Kherson Region State Administration Mr. Nickolay Kostyak, the Head of Regional Council Mr. Victor Pelykh, the Mayor of Kherson Mr. Vladimir Saldo took part in a ceremony, dedicated to the vessel’s launch.

“Complete shipbuilding is a strategic goal for Smart Maritime . In the near prospect we plan to consolidate in the niche of medium-tonnage fleet and to maximum range widen the geography of our market. I am sure that the future of Ukraine is in the development of highly technological and science intensive sectors. The shipbuilding is to become a “locomotive” for native metallurgy, machine-building, design offices, – Mr. Alexander Yurkov, Smart Maritime Group Manager, has declared.

The Contract on construction of three complete “river-to-sea” tankers was signed between KSY and Maltese SVL Company in 2011. The first vessel of RST27 Project was laid at the shipyard on October 21, 2011. The completeness of the second and the third vessels of the series at present is 64% and 59.3 % respectively. Final deliveries of all three vessels is expected to be completed in 2013.

The project has been designed by Marine Engineering Office (MEO, Odessa).

Vessel Particulars:

• LOA: 140.85 m
• DWT: 6980 at 4.2m, river draft
• River Draft: 3.60m, cap: 5378m3
• Beam: 16.86 m
• Draft: 6 m
• Operating Speed: 10kts