One of Russia's new-generation Arctic tankers, the 70,000dwt double-acting and ice-protected Mikhail Ulyanov, was launched at the end of October in Saint Petersburg, where it was built by Admiralteyskiy Sudostroitelnyy Zavod (Admiralty Yard). The ship is capable of breaking through 1.2m-thick ice at a speed of 3kt when navigating astern thanks to the special shaped hull and the assistance of its Azipod propulsion system in breaking the ice. When in the open sea the vessel operates as a conventional vessel with a service speed of 16kt. A second tanker of the type, Kirill Lavrov, is under construction at the yard and will be built to the same specification, which includes ice-class 1A Super (Russian class LU6).
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