The newest multifunctional icebreaking standby vessel in the global fleet took the name Stepan Makarov on June 15.

Built to order at the Arctech Helsinki Shipyard for SCF Group, the Russian-flagged ship will be home-based at St. Petersburg and be deployed to the Sakhalin-2 project. Stepan Makarov will be primarily engaged in ensuring the safety of personnel on Sakhalin Energy’s offshore oil and gas production platforms in the Sea of Okhotsk, responding to emergency spills at sea and supporting the company’s operations within its technical capabilities.

The vessel is one of four ships in a 20-year agreement between SCF Group and Sakhalin Energy to operate at Sakhalin-2, and the first icebreaking standby vessel to be commissioned. The icebreaking standby vessel Gennadiy Nevelskoy was delivered and has been operating since April.

Stepan Makarov, a Russian admiral and polar explorer, played a key role in establishing the Russian icebreaker fleet. It was his idea to use icebreakers to explore the Arctic Ocean, and he was directly involved in the design and construction of Yermak, the world’s first Arctic icebreaker that was commissioned in 1898.

—Joseph Markman