Sovcomflot

Sovcomflot
State-owned corporation
Industry Shipping
Founded 1995
Headquarters Saint Petersburg
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Sergey Naryshkin, Sergey Frank
Revenue USD 1,443 million (2012)
USD 33.2 million (2012)
Owner Government of Russia (100%)
Number of employees
 5,437 (2012)
Website http://www.sovcomflot.ru/

Sovkomflot (Russian: ПАО «Совкомфлот», ПАО «Современный коммерческий флот», Modern Commercial Fleet) is a Russian maritime shipping company specializing in petroleum and LNG shipping, a 100% state-owned corporation founded in 1995. Since December 5, 2006, its headquarters are located in Saint Petersburg. It is headed by Director General Sergei Frank. In 2007-2008 Sovcomflot absorbed the assets of state-owned, Novorossiysk-based Novoship and thus became the largest shipping company in Russia.

History

In 1973 the Government of the USSR decreed formation of a special shipping corporation, separated from the regular state-owned marine fleet, that could use long-term bare boat charter scheme for purchasing new and used foreign-built vessels. In 1976 the Ministry of Merchant Marine institited a special fund and the newly formed corporation used it to acquire two 40,000 ton (deadweight, DWT) dry cargo transports - Sovfracht and Sovinflot.

In 1988 these operations were reorganized as Sovcomflot Joint-Stock Company (SCF), a one-of-a-kind state-owned corporation with special authorization by the USSR Council of Ministers. By 1990 its assets reached 1,800,000 DWT tons. A further reorganization in June 1995 confirmed the special status of Sovcomflot as a state-owned business, effective to date (July 2008).

In June 2007 Vladimir Putin authorized merger of Sovcomflot and Novoship; the state 'invested' its share in Novoship (50.34%) in Sovcomflot capital.[1] The legal procedures were completed in early 2008 and in January 2008 Sovcomflot offered a stock buyout to the remaining minority shareholders of Novoship.[2] The integration of Novoship assets into Sovcomflot operations continues as of August 2008 (fleet management and sales were unified in July 2008).[3]

Grand Aniva is spherical-hold LNG carrier

Fleet

As of January 2005, according to the Maritime Board (Morskaya Kollegiya) of the Russian Government, Sovcomflot owned 45 vessels, with the total capacity of 3,263,000 tons.[4]

As of July 2008, the company operates 101 tankers with 8,352,000 deadweight ton capacity, 9 dry cargo vessels with 135,000 deadweight ton capacity, 6 LNG carriers and one passenger vessel (SS Maxim Gorkiy). According to Sovcomflot statement, the company's tanker fleet is one of the youngest in the world, with an average age of 5.7 years.[5] Most recent additions, spherical-hold LNG carriers Grand Aniva and Grand Elena, were delivered in January 2008 and October 2007.[6][7] Four Aframax class tankers (114,000 DWT tons each), three Panamax class tankers (70,000 DWT tons each), two membrane-type LNG carriers, Velikiy Novgorod and Pskov,[8] (73,300 DWT tons each) are under construction in South Korean shipyards.[9][10] Most of Sovcomflot ships operate under Liberian registry (flag of convenience).

The Grand Aniva was featured on Series 3 of the BBC program Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections.

Two icebreaking supply vessels, Vitus Bering and Aleksey Chirikov, were ordered from Arctech Helsinki Shipyard in December 2010.[11] The vessels are similar to SCF Sakhalin which was purchased from FESCO in 2010.

Management

As a 100% government-owned company with global presence, Sovcomflot board of directors is usually headed by executives from the Presidential Administration of Russia. In July 2007 Igor Shuvalov, aide to Vladimir Putin, long-time chairman of the board, was replaced by Sergey Naryshkin, chief of staff of Presidential Administration. Other directors are: Andrey Kostin (Vneshtorgbank), Yury Medvedev, Alexander Misharin, Gleb Nikitin, Charles E. Ryan (of Deutsche Bank), Aleksey Sokolov, Elena Titova (Morgan Stanley), Alexander Tikhonov, Sergey Frank (chief executive).

Sergey Frank controls the operations as CEO since October 2004. The Management Board also includes Sergey Burima (operations), Nicholas Fairfax (London operations), Andrey Khlunev (accounting), Nikolay Kolesnikov (finance), Aleksandr Kurtynin (audit), Callum Ludgate (charter and gas), Vladimir Mednikov (law), Sergey Popravklo (Cyprus operations).[12]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Rossiyskaya Gazeta, June 21, 2007". Rg.ru. 2007-06-21. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
  2. ↑ RBC Daily, 11.01.2008
  3. ↑ "Nash Novorossiysk, July 24, 2008". Nnvrsk.ru. 2008-07-24. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
  4. ↑ Морская коллегия: Наличие морского транспортного флота, контролируемого Россией (Maritime Board: Russia's Merchant Marine) (Russian)
  5. ↑ "Sovcomflot website. Summary". Sovcomflot.ru. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
  6. ↑ "MS Grand Aniva specifications". Sovcomflot.ru. 2008-01-04. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
  7. ↑ "MS Grand Elena specifications". Sovcomflot.ru. 2007-10-31. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
  8. ↑ Построенный для Газпрома танкер получил название "Великий Новгород" RBC, 20 January 2014, (Russian)
  9. ↑ "List of Aframax tankers". Sovcomflot.ru. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
  10. ↑ "List of membrane LNG vessels". Sovcomflot.ru. 2008-12-15. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
  11. ↑ "Arctech Helsinki Shipyard To Build Sovcomflot Icebreaker Supply Vessels". Retrieved 2010-12-18.
  12. ↑ "Sovcomflot website. Management board". Sovcomflot.ru. Retrieved 2012-03-08.

See also

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ships of Sovcomflot.