Editorial: Russian shipping on the quality track. Russian shipping has gone through a remarkable transition during the last decade and the common picture in Europe of the Russian merchant fleet as ageing and substandard is no longer valid.

DNV identifies the Arctic challenge Booming Baltic oil exports have been the primary catalyst behind the current orderbook of ice-classed aframax tankers. The centre of action is the Gulf of Finland and particularly the Port of Primorsk. But owners are increasingly keeping an eye on the Northern Sea Routes and the Sakhalin area in the Russian Far East. Large, ice-strengthened tankers is not an entirely new idea.

Russian merchant fleet today
The sea freight fleet currently numbers 393 vessels of 9.8 million DWT. The sea fleet makes up 25 per cent of the total fleet by number of vessels and 78.5 per cent by deadweight. Diagram 1 illustrates the sea and river fleet proportions.

Maritime St Petersburg: Outgrowing the old boundaries
Historically, St Petersburg was founded by Peter the Great on the Gulf of Finland as a port for both the military and merchant fleet, and thus it has developed through over 300 years. The Navy has moved from the city to other bases, but commercial shipping remains a core feature in St Petersburg’s profile.

Attractive – but difficult passenger destination
Although St Petersburg is a popular cruise destination, the people from this city of millions of citizens are offered a poor selection of opportunities for marine travel – there are connections to Finland, Estonia and Germany only once or twice a week.

Russian Barents Sea: An energy Klondike Current Russian estimates predict that one third of the country’s oil exports, or 150 million tonnes per annum – equal to Norway’s current prodution – will go through the Barents Sea shortly after 2015. Ambitious perhaps, but nobody could accuse the Russians of not thinking big.

Russia grappling with oil export logistics
?Russia is acting more constructively to meet the challenge to ship its energy exports through ice-infested waters than is generally appreciated.

Danish connection with Russia for 40 years
More than 50 newbuilding units from Russian shipyards and second-hand vessels to and from Russian shipowners are handled every
year through a network of offices (Nakskov, St Petersburg, Gdansk
and Copenhagen) of Poul Christensen Shipping A/S, a Danish broker company with long-term relations with Russian clients.

Unique simulator for liquid bulk handling
An advanced terminal simulator for the handling of floating bulk products is a new training tool at Kymenlaakso Polytechnic/Maritime Studies in Kotka. The incentive for this unique simulator came from Kymenlaakso Polytechnic and the equipment has been developed by Transas Ltd.

Icy tanker and fast sails
What have tankers and speedy trimarans in common? The answer is Stena Bulk and Sovcomflot.

No 24/2008

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