New Russian tankers tested in Hamburg

New Russian tankers are being tested in the ice basin of the Hamburg Naval Institute. The tankers in question will be used in the project known as Sakhalin 2, which envisages exploitation of oil and gas fields on the Sakhalin Peninsula, Russia's Far East, by an international consortium involving Russia, Japan and the USA, reported the press service of the Primorye Sea Shipping Company, which won the tender for the freight of vessels to transport oil under the Sakhalin-1 project.

Tankers with a deadweight of 105,000 tons will be used for all-the-year-round transportation of Sakhalin oil.

Only three naval institutes in the world, those in Hamburg, Helsinki and St. Petersburg, have the opportunity to carry out model tests of ice ships.

The models so far passed every test and experiment without failing, the press service told RIA Novosti.

It is expected that three new tankers will be shipped to the Primorye Sea Shipping Company in the late 2005 or early 2006.