Severnaya Verf Takes European Shipbuilding Stage

25.10.2011 JSC Severnaya Verf shipyard on Oct 21 delivered project VS 485 PSV oil platform supply vessel to Norwegian company Solvik Hull Supplies II AS which is a member of Solvik Offshore Group.

That is the first ready-to-operate platform supply ship built in Russia. She is designed for transportation of drill fluid, bulky goods, methanol and general cargo on the upper deck, as well as for rescue, evacuation and fire extinguishing activities at oil platforms in stormy conditions of North Atlantic.

The customer's representative Karl Sandvik paid compliments to Severnaya Verf and expressed hope for further cooperation with the shipyard in construction of supply vessels.

In addition, Severnaya Verf and GSE (Norway) signed a partnership agreement on Oct 21; the companies plan to cooperate in ship designing, jointly participate in international tenders, projects, and explore Russian shelf. The agreement was signed by director general of JSC Severnaya Verf Andrei Fomichev and representative of Norwegian ship-owning company Karl Sandvik.

"Working with Norwegian customers, Severnaya Verf has mastered construction technology of almost the whole range of platform supply vessels. Nowadays, it is the only Russian shipyard building ready-to-operate ships of such class for export. Today we have agreed with the Norwegian company to construct supply vessels for Arctic offshore fields. Thus, our backlog of civil orders has been considerably increased", said the yard's director general Andrei Fomichev.

REFERENCE

Project VS 485 PSV oil platform supply vessel
Designer - Vik-Sandvik AS (Norway)
Classification society - Det Norske Veritas / DNV (Norway)
Flag - NIS (Norway)

Basic characteristics:
Length – 85 meters
Beam – 20 meters
Draft – 7.0 meters
Deadweight – 5000 tons
Cargo deck – 1,005 sq meters
Speed – 16 knots

History
Having analyzed world market's demand, in 2004 Severnaya Verf started preparation of productive capacities for platform supply vessels. And no later than in 2005 the company signed a contract with Norwegian Eidesvik Drift AS for two hulls of Project VS 470 PSV MkII supply ships. They were delivered to the customer in 2006. Severnaya Verf tied a contract with Norwegian company Siddis Skipper II AS in 2008 for construction of another hull, but then the contract was amended providing construction of ready-to-operate ship with delivery date of Aug 2010.

Also in 2008, the shipyard signed a contract with Norwegian companies Solvik Hull Supplies and Solvik Hull Supplies II AS (both affiliates of Solvik Offshore Group) for two hulls of VS 485 PSV platform supply vessels. One of them was handed over to the customer - Solvik Hull Supplies AS – in Nov 2009. The contract for the second hull was amended and the shipyard built ready-to-operate ship. The vessel was delivered on Oct 21, 2011.

Cooperating with Norwegian design bureaus and ship-owning companies, JSC Severnaya Verf has become the first Russian shipyard entering European platform supply shipbuilding market.

Developing projects of platform supply vessels, Severnaya Verf established contacts with Norwegian leading design bureaus made such projects as VS 470 PSV, VS 485 PSV, VS 482 PSV, XBOW-projects, UT722, MOSS818. They are Vik-Sandvik (currently Wartsila Ship Design), Moss Maritime, Skipsteknisk AS, etc.

As a result of export orders, Severnaya Verf has acquired full technology and wide business contacts with Norwegian marine equipment suppliers.

But the main thing is that the shipyard has accumulated full-scale construction experience of up-to-date platform supply vessels.

Severnaya Verf
Basic product lineup of the shipyard includes surface warships and commercial vessels of different purpose. The yard has wide experience in construction of cruisers, destroyers, minesweepers, ASW ships, corvettes, frigates, research vessels, passenger liners, timber carriers, trawlers, containerships, and ro-ro vessels.

The shipyard's clients are Russian defense ministry and foreign navies, domestic and exterior organizations specialized in maritime shipping and fisheries.

At present, Severnaya Verf builds 4 corvettes, 2 frigates, and a special-purpose communication vessel for Russian Navy.

In 2007 JSC Severnaya Verf started execution of foreign trade contract for repair and upgrade of 4 patrol ships (projects 1159T and 1234E) for Algerian Navy. First two ships have been already delivered to the orderer. As of today, Severnaya Verf executes almost the whole range of surface shipbuilding in Russia.