Sovcomflot

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

In 1988 these operations were reorganized as the Sovcomflot Joint-Stock Company (SCF), a then one-of-a-kind state-owned corporation with special authorization by the USSR Council of Ministers. By 1990 its assets reached a gross tonnage carrying capacity of 1,800,000 DWT. 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 President of Russia Vladimir Putin authorized the merger of Sovcomflot and Novoship; the state 'invested' its 50.34% share in Novoship in Sovcomflot capital.[3] The legal procedures were completed in early 2008 and in January 2008 Sovcomflot offered a stock buyout to the remaining minority shareholders of Novoship.[4] The integration of Novoship assets into Sovcomflot operations continues as of August 2008 (fleet management and sales were unified in July 2008).[5]

In August 2017 the Christophe de Margerie, a tanker owned by Sovcomflot, became the first cargo ship to complete the so-called Northern Sea Route, completing a journey from Hammerfest in Norway to Boryeong in South Korea in the record time of 22 days.[6]

Moscow Stars oil tanker at Fawley

As of January 2005, according to the Maritime Board (Morskaya Kollegiya) of the Russian Government, Sovcomflot owned 45 vessels, with a total capacity of 3,263,000 tons.[7]

As of July 2008, the company operated 101 tankers with 8,352,000 deadweight tonnes (8.35 megatonnes) capacity, 9 dry cargo vessels with 135,000 deadweight tonnes (135 kt) capacity, 6 LNG carriers and one passenger vessel, Maxim Gorkiy. According to Sovcomflot, the company's tanker fleet was one of the youngest in the world, with an average age of under 6 years as of 2012.[8] Recent additions are the spherical-hold LNG carriers, Grand Aniva and Grand Elena, which were delivered in January 2008 and October 2007.[9][10] Four Aframax class tankers (114,000 deadweight tonnes (114 kt) each), three Panamax class tankers (70,000 deadweight tonnes (70 kt) each), two membrane-type LNG carriers, Velikiy Novgorod and Pskov,[11] (73,300 deadweight tonnes (73.3 kt) each) were under construction in South Korean shipyards as of 2012.[12][13] Most of Sovcomflot ships operate under Liberian registry flag of convenience.

The Grand Aniva was mentioned on Series 3 of the BBC program Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections.[14]

Two icebreaking supply vessels, Vitus Bering and Aleksey Chirikov, were ordered from Arctech Helsinki Shipyard in December 2010.[15] The vessels are similar to SCF Sakhalin which was purchased from FESCO in 2010.

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 Officer).

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 Popravko (Cyprus operations).[16]

• Sovtorgflot

• Official website

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