Sovcomflot Opens Training and Engineering Centre for Projects in Arctic

On 22 December, 2012, OAO Sovcomflot held a grand opening ceremony for its new training & engineering centre (TEC) in Saint-Petersburg. This unique centre will provide special training for the company’s captains and senior officers in preparation for navigation in the challenging climatic conditions of the Arctic.

The training & engineering centre will work closely with SCF Group headquarters which is located in the historical centre of Saint-Petersburg on the embankment of the Moika River.

The TEC opening ceremony was attended by: Valentina Matvienko – Speaker of the Council of the Federation, Sergey Naryshkin – Chairman of the State Duma, Georgiy Poltavchenko – Governor of Saint-Petersburg, ViktorOlerskiy – Deputy Minister of Transport, and Ilya Klebanov –Chairman of the Board at OAO Sovcomflot.

The opening of the modern training centre in Russia’s maritime capital marks an important milestone in the implementation of the SCF development strategy which provides for an expansion of company participation in oil & gas projects in the Arctic and sub-Arctic. Sovcomflot vessels provide year-round support for large offshore energy projects, such as: Sakhalin-I, Sakhalin-II, Varandey, Tangguh, Escobar, and Peregrino.

Personnel training at the new SCF centre will be conducted in close collaboration with Russia’s leading maritime institute, the Admiral Makarov State Maritime Academy (Saint-Petersburg). Modern systems in place at the centre will allow SCF to conduct essential training, simulate navigational situations in differing climatic conditions, and develop the best possible engineering solutions for specific projects using the centre’s own equipment. Thus, SCF’s headquarters in Petersburg will become the focal point for work done by the company’s analytical, engineering and training centres. This will create a special fusion of company knowledge and practical experience, and will provide further impetus in the development of unique high-latitude projects in icy conditions.

SCF’s new training centre will provide staff with the opportunity to trial and drill a whole range of Arctic maritime operations: navigation at northern latitudes, servicing of oil platforms, the transportation and offloading of hydrocarbons in challenging climatic conditions, navigating in icy waters with icebreaker escort, approaching ice-resistant terminals and vessel positioning during loading operations, the organisation of complex towing operations, etc.

All training equipment at the SCF TEC, as well as navigational and cartographic hardware, was manufactured and installed by the Russian company Transas (Saint-Petersburg) – a leading supplier of onboard electronics, maritime and aviation simulators.

“Sovcomflot Group has accumulated a wealth of operational experience in challenging climatic conditions. SCF vessels are engaged in a wide range of maritime engineering operations in the Arctic and sub-Arctic. This type of work requires constant attention to staff selection and training. Using our extensive experience, we are now developing our maritime school with the aim of raising the quality of our services, maintaining high standards of maritime safety, ensuring efficient fleet operations, and improving the company’s competitive strength. Today’s opening of the Sovcomflot training and engineering centre represents a unique coming together of a new educational institution and our company’s analytical and engineering subdivisions. This will ensure a new level of training for the crews of our vessels.” – Sergey Frank, President of OAO Sovcomflot.

“This new training centre is a fine example of cooperation between a manufacturer of navigational equipment and training systems, and a shipping company. The combined efforts of Transas and Sovcomflot have come to fruition in the creation of this state-of-the-art training facility with its customised, and often original, solutions which best suit the training requirements of staff from OAO Sovcomflot and its partners. Many of the systems installed at the TEC not only provide new principles of staff training, but also anticipate the future of hardware exploitation in maritime navigation.” – Nikolay Lebedev, President of Transas Group.

Sovcomflot Group is Russia’s largest shipping company and is a world leader in the sphere of maritime hydrocarbon transportation. SCF also supports continental shelf exploration and oil & gas production. The SCF fleet includes 156 company-owned and chartered vessels with a combined deadweight of around 12 million tonnes and specialises in hydrocarbon transportation from regions with challenging ice conditions. A third of the SCF fleet is made up of high ice class vessels.

Sovcomflot supports large-scale offshore energy projects in Russia and the rest of the world, including: Sakhalin-I, Sakhalin-II, Varandey, Prirazlomnoye, Tangguh, Escobar, and Peregrino.

The company has its headquarters in Saint-Petersburg and representative offices in Moscow, Novorossiysk, Murmansk, Vladivostok, London, Limassol, Madrid, Singapore and Dubai.