Joint Cooperation for Stena Bulk, Sovcomflot

The tanker Stena Arctica will be named in the Port of Göteborg. With its 117,100 dwt, the vessel is the largest Swedish flagged ship in the Swedish merchant navy and the world’s largest tanker with the highest class in service. The Stena Arctica, in cooperation with Sovcomflot – the largest shipping company in Russia – will mainly transport Russian crude oil from the Gulf of Finland to the Continent. The cooperation between the shipping companies Stena Bulk and Sovcomflot includes building up a pool of 10-15 ice-strengthened tankers, due to begin in February, 2006. The objective is to ship 20-25 million tons of Russian oil per year from the Baltic to the UK/Continent. Stena Bulk and Sovcomfolt also plan to jointly develop a so-called B-MAX tanker, with B standing for Baltic. Cooperation in the training of crews for shipping in icy waters has been initiated, this includes sponsorship of a training program and a training centre at the Makarov Institute in St. Petersburg.