World's first polar condensate oil tank named in Nansha

The world's first 44,500-ton polar condensate oil tanker is named in Nansha. [Photo/gznsnews.com]

On Dec 4, the world's first 44,500-ton polar condensate oil tanker, built by Guangzhou Shipyard International Company Ltd (GSI) for Greece's Dynacom company, was formally named "BORIS SOKOLOV" in Nansha.

The oil tanker will mainly serve the Yamal LNG project, the world's largest, to solve the problem that conventional tankers cannotenter the Arctic during winter. And the tanker already has work arranged: Yamal and Dynagas have signed a long-term chartering agreement for its services.

The biggest feature of the "BORIS SOKOLOV" is that even at Arctic temperaturesof -50 ℃, it can break unimpeded through the ice.

The oil tanker is designed according to the Arctic level of the Russian Ice Society's highest ice zone, Arc 7. It can sail and supply gas condensate throughout the year without icebreaker piloting.

The construction workers stand in front of the oil tanker.

In addition, in order to ensure that the ship can still operate normally under extremely cold weather, all equipments and facilities on it have a cold-proof design. With these kinds of technologies, it is more appropriate to describe the oil tanker as "snow outside the cabin and spring inside."

The reporter learned that similar high value-added shipbuilding work accounts for nearly 40% of GSI's business.“Nansha factories have given us a good environment to pick up these orders,”said Zhou Xuhui, deputy general manager of GSI.

“The former 'Made in China' is often considered as involving low-end products, but with the rapid development of China's industries, we have gradually caught up with and surpassed developed countries in the shipbuilding industry. We are working hard to take the road of high-quality industry. This high-tech condensate oil tanker is a representative product of our transformation and upgrading," said Zhou Shengping, manager of the project.