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Russian shipping company buys giant bulker for international routes

MURMANSK, May 29. /TASS/ The Murmansk Shipping Company (MSC) bought a giant bulker to be used for serving overseas routes. The company’s press service said the vessel will carry the name of the company’s former top manager - Ivan Lopatin.

"The Murmansk Shipping Company closed a deal to buy another bulker," the press service said on Monday.

The multi-purpose vessel will be the biggest bulker Russian companies own. It is 179,5 wide and 27.7m wide. The deadweight is more than 33,000 tonnes. The vessel will transport dry and general cargoes. It was manufactured in 2010. The deal’s price is not announced.

In April, the company bought a similar vessel, The Vsevolod Beletsky, and a year earlier two other dry cargo vessels - the first purchases after a long break.

The new bulker - The Ivan Lopatin - will be used for serving international routes. The company told TASS earlier, its bulker fleet serves mostly trips from Russian ports to Europe, delivering apatite and iron ore concentrate.

New and old vessels

The Murmansk Shipping Company has a fleet of 27 vessels of the total deadweight 541,000 tonnes. Among them are 15 dry-cargo ships, five tankers, a passenger vessel, The V. Ignatyuk icebreaker. The company plans to buy new vessels under its program for long-term development to 2020.

MSC said earlier about its plans to buy three bulkers of 30,000-tonne deadweight each before the yearend. As yet, the company would not reveal more detailed information. MSC say it is more profitable nowadays not to build new vessels, but to buy required tonnage on the secondary market.

The Murmansk Shipping Company was organized back in 1939 specially for serving developments of the Arctic and the Northern Sea Route. Its fleet was formed up from dry cargo and passenger vessels from the Northern and Baltic shipping companies.