Tankers of Project 114K "Afromax" - these were not built even in the USSR

We are talking about a certain type of vessel that meets generally accepted criteria. The name “Afromax” has nothing to do with the “dark” continent and comes from the abbreviation AFRA, which in English stands for Average Freight Rate Assessment. If translated, you get “an estimate of the average freight value.” Ships of this type belong to the LR2 category, which are capable of transporting 80-120 thousand tons of payload (the parameter is called “deadweight”). Their width should not exceed 32 m (options are possible), draft – 14 m, speed – up to 15 knots.


The main advantage of tankers of this class is their dimensions, which allow free entry into most ports of the world. Such vessels serve countries or regions where there are no large terminals for receiving transport with large displacement. Afromax class ships are capable of transporting 600 thousand barrels of oil, while for their larger “colleagues” this figure reaches 2 million.

"Afromax" in Russia

Until recently, the main obstacle to the construction of tankers of this type was the lack of a suitable shipyard. Now it appeared in Primorye (Bolshoy Kamen) in 2016, when the first stage of production was launched (construction started back in 2009). We are talking about the Zvezda complex.


Thanks to him, the Afromax class tankers were laid down (in total there are 12 such transports in the order portfolio), but not only that - SSK is engaged in the construction of ships of other types.

Firstborn of the Afromax class

This is the tanker "Vladimir Monomakh", laid down in September 2017. At that time, the shipyard was not yet completely ready, so most of the work (90%) was carried out in South Korea. “Zvezda” assembled a couple of bow sections, docked and finally completed the ship. It was launched into the water in May 2020. The process lasted about a day - the tanker is so huge.


All work was carried out through the Vympel transfer dock. This is a technologically advanced structure, one of the largest in the Russian Federation. The tanker was “rolled” by a special train from the outfitting slipway and loaded with 10 thousand tons of ballast (the vessel’s dead weight is 25 thousand tons) so that it would not capsize. After the Vladimir Monomakh was on the floating dock, it was taken out into the water area.


The tanker is 250 m long and 44 m wide (this exceeds the norm, but is apparently acceptable). Deadweight – 114 thousand tons, speed – 14,6 knots. However, the main feature of the vessel is its relative environmental safety. The role of fuel in tanker engines can be played by either diesel fuel or liquefied gas of natural origin.


The vessel's power plant develops power up to 17 thousand kW. The ship is designed for operation in the Baltic and Northern seas. Its ice class is ICE-1A, which means it can overcome ice up to a meter thick.

Other tankers of the Afromax type (Project 114K)

In 2018, a ship similar to the Vladimir Monomakh was laid down with the name Vladimir Vinogradov. It was launched in 2021. The Okeansky Prospekt tanker, laid down in February 2019, was handed over to the customer at the end of 2022.


Today, these three vessels are in operation and make regular voyages for the transportation of petroleum products. In 2019, construction began on the next tanker, the Akademik Gubkin, capable of transporting up to 130 thousand tons of oil. Water testing of the ship began in April last year. The Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex has a couple more vessels of this type laid down. These are “Akademik Ivanter”, which began construction in March 2021, and “Eastern Avenue” (29.06.2023/XNUMX/XNUMX), which originally had the name “Nursultan Nazarbayev”.


Some may say that tankers are not being built as quickly as we would like. The reason lies in the problems of import substitution. Complete localization of production, as Zvezda management stated in 2020, will be achieved this year.