RUS

Novoship celebrates key staff at 50th anniversary

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TradeWinds

Last month’s 50th anniversary of Novorossiysk Shipping Co (Novoship) drew a gathering of the great and good of Russian shipping.

Novoship was made a subsidiary of SCF Group — better known as Sovcomflot — by a 2007 decree to consolidate state energy transport assets signed by Russian president Vladimir Putin, who for its birthday sent a greeting telegram, which emphasised that the company is “considered as one of the flagships of the Russian and world tanker fleet” today.

Government attendees at the ceremony were Victor Olersky, Russia’s deputy minister of transport and head of the Federal Marine and River Transport Agency (Rosmorrechflot); Alexey Kondratenko, member of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia; and Evgeniy Moskvichev, chairman of the State Duma Transport Committee.

Industry representatives included Alexey Klyavin, president of the Russian Chamber of Shipping; Yury Sukhorukov, president of the Seafarers’ Union of Russia; and Sergey Frank, president and chief executive of SCF Group.

Frank says the scope of Novoship’s tanker operations and its significance have made Novorossiysk the “Tanker Capital” of Russia.

“Novorossiysk Shipping Co was built on the foundation of age-old traditions of operating tankers in the Black Sea,” Frank said.

“Since 1885, when the Russian tanker Svet embarked on her voyage through the Black Sea, thousands of nautical miles have been covered and several generations of seafarers have changed, with each generation transferring knowledge, experience, love of the sea and seamanship onto the next.”

The consolidation of SCF and Novoship has resulted in the emergence of Russia’s largest shipping company and, Frank added, “enabled us to overcome one of the longest recessions in the modern history of the tanker business.”

Olersky said: “The development strategy of Novorossiysk Shipping Co has always been based on the principals of high-quality shipping and high social responsibility. From the very beginning, the company’s management recognised it was all about the staff.”

In keeping with Olersky and Frank’s words on staffing, many of Novoship’s employees and veterans were awarded ministerial and corporate awards at the event.

Among them, Zhanna Spasova, director of Novoship’s economics department, was presented with the title of honorary worker of transport of the Russian Federation and Alexey Khaydukov, managing director of SCF Management Services (Novorossiysk), was awarded with a certificate of appreciation by the Ministry of Transport.

Nikolay Tekuchev, pumpman of the 109,919-dwt tanker NS Concord (built 2005), and Evgeniy Vilyan, electrical engineer on the 47,199-dwt tanker Tower Bridge (built 2004), were awarded with the Rosmorrechflot Memorial Badge. Eduard Apiyants, first mate of the 106,562-dwt tanker Kuban (built 2000), was presented with a letter of gratitude from Rosmorrechflot.

Nikolay Demchenko, master of the 46,655-dwt tanker Elbrus (built 2004), was awarded a certificate of appreciation by SCF Group.

Four captains and chief engineers — Alexey Balakhnin, Alexander Laptev, Nikolay Senokosenko, and Sergey Seleznev — also were awarded with special badges for “trouble-free operations”.