On 26 March 2021, the annual extended meeting was held of the Collegium of the Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport and the Public Council of the Agency.

The meeting participants discussed the performance of Russia’s maritime and inland waterway transport industry in 2020 and outlined the priorities for 2021 and for the medium term up to 2023.

During the meeting, an award ceremony was also held for the winners of the annual Industry Leadership award. For 2020, the expert commission of the Agency named SCF as the winner in the category ‘Marine tanker shipping company.’

Speaking at the meeting, Igor Tonkovidov, President and CEO of Sovcomflot, highlighted the company’s continuous efforts to expand the period for transit navigation along the Northern Sea Route, and to reduce the environmental impact of the fleet’s operations. He noted:

“All vessels ordered by SCF during 2020 are designed to use LNG fuel, the cleanest burning fuel amongst those currently available both commercially and technically. At the same time, SCF continues to work on expanding the geography of Marine LNG bunkering. Very recently, we have completed two pioneering LNG fuelling operations, together with Shell. Two weeks ago, our ‘Green Funnel’ tanker Gagarin Prospect became the first ever Aframax tanker to complete ship-to-ship LNG fuelling in the US, off Cape of Canaveral, and just a few days ago, her sister ship Lomonosov Prospect completed a similarly pioneering LNG fuelling at the Port of Gibraltar. All the while, SCF also continues to work on organising LNG fuelling at Russian ports together with its partners amongst Russian energy companies.”