Mikhail Ulyanov Ice-Class Tanker

The Mikhail Ulyanov is a super strength icebreaking tanker, ordered by Russian shipping giant Sovkomflot to transport oil in the Arctic. The Ulyanov will be a sister ship to the Kirill Lavrov, both of which are being built at the Russian Admiralty Shipyard in St Petersburg with float out set for summer 2009.

Design

The tanker was designed by Aker Arctic Technology Inc of Finland to ship oil from Prirazlomnoye (an Arctic oil field operated by Gazprom subsidiary Sevmorneftegaz), in the Pechora Sea, to terminal facilities just outside Murmansk.

The ship will have an ice-enhanced hull structure designed in compliance with LU6 (1A Super) ice-class standards, under the classification of the Russian Register of Shipping, and will be able to operate in temperatures of -40°C and break ice up to 1.5m thick without the need of an icebreaker escort.

The Ulyanov is a double action vessel, using a forward bow movement in clear waters and a forward stern movement in ice. The ship will be capable of breaking through 1.2m-thick ice at a stern speed of 3kt. The vessel is designed to carry up to three grades of cargo of around 1.025t/m³ density simultaneously, including crude oil, oil products and gas condensate.

Technical

The ship will have a deadweight of 70,000t and will be 260m long and 34m wide. It will have a draft of 13.6m and a depth of 21m. There will be two 12.5 t/h boilers, a total cargo tank capacity of 86,70m³ and separated ballast tanks of 35,200m³.

The electrical centrifugal cargo pumps have capacities of 3/3350m³/h and 2/300m³/h. The ballast pump has a capacity of 2/2000m³/h. The vessel will have a dynamic positioning system, a helideck, and a bow loading facility.

The bridge will be outfitted with state-of-the-art communications and navigation equipment supplied by Transas. The electronics will include communication equipment for GMDSS area A4, two radars for extreme temperatures, two ECDIS 3000-I systems, six information displays with Navi-Conning, Automatic Identification System, Voyage Data Recorder, log, and echosounder.

Propulsion systems

The Ulyanov will use four Wartsila 6L 46 C diesel generators (4 × 6,300kW) and one Wartsila 4L 20 (1 x 720kW) as an auxiliary generator. The service speed at 15,400kW and 13.0m draft is 16kt. The ship’s double action facility allows it to move stern first, using azimuthing electric propulsion units. These are compact, podded thrusters that can rotate 360°, eliminating the need for rudders. The pods have an AC electrical drive motor coupled to a short drive shaft, which is then connected to a fixed-pitch propeller.

The vessel will move through the ice using a pair of 8.5MW Azipod thrusters by the diesel-electric power plant consisting of four main diesels producing a total of 25.2MW. The Azipods are supplied by Finland’s ABB Marine which also delivered medium voltage generators, main switchboards, transformers, and frequency converters.