Working Conditions Aboard the Khudayar-Yusifzade

On Friday, October 21st, Palmali Group proudly announced the delivery of its latest vessel, the Gobustan, marking the fourth addition to the 7,100DWT tanker fleet under the RST22M project. Constructed at the Besiktas Shipyard in Yalova, this significant delivery was confirmed by the Marine Engineering Bureau. The keel for the Gobustan (build number 15) was laid on December 18, 2009, and the vessel launched successfully on August 27, 2011. In a strategic move earlier this year, Palmali Group exercised an option for 15 additional newbuilds of the Armada series (project RST22M) with Besiktas Shipyard, with the ambitious target of completing this order by the end of 2013. To date, two tankers from this series have commenced operations. The Project RST22M tankers represent an evolution from the earlier Project 005RST01, commonly known as the 'Armada' series. The original Armada vessels were meticulously designed by the Marine Engineering Bureau for Palmali Group and built between 2002 and 2006 at the Selah and ADA shipyards in Tuzla, Turkey. In contrast, the Project RST22M is an enhanced iteration of these second-series tankers (Project RST22), which were constructed at the Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard in Nizhny Novgorod during 2008-2009. With ten tankers from the original Armada series and five from the new Armada actively engaged in 'river-sea' transportation, this fleet plays a crucial role in the movement of crude oil, fuel oil, diesel, and various other petroleum products as well as vegetable oils. These vessels navigate key waterways across the Caspian, Black, Mediterranean, Baltic, and North Seas, covering routes around Europe and within the Irish Sea. Notably, the new RST22M series tankers meet the Volga-Don Canal and Volga-Baltic dimensional standards. Key specifications for the RST22M project vessels include a length of 139.95 meters, a breadth of 16.6 meters, and a depth of 6.0 meters, designed to comply with the ‘Volga-Don max’ class requirements.