Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Dec. 21 / Trend H.Hasanov /
Turkmenistan purchased the Bitarap tanker built at the Volgograd Shipyard and commissioned at the Estonian shipbuilding company Reval Shipbuilding, specializing in retrofitting vessels, an official source reported.
The Bitarap tanker, with a freight-carrying capacity of 4,450 tons, meets international standards and is the only tanker in the Caspian Sea designed for transporting chemical products.
An order for the tanker amounting to $10.8 million followed upon the relevant decree of President Gurbangulu Berdimuhammedov.
It comes supplied with state-of-the-art electrical and electronic equipment and hardware. Vessels of this kind are of particular importance for the dynamic development of the domestic chemical industry, which consistently increases its production across a wide range of high-quality products. These are in high demand on domestic and international markets.
A global satellite communication system, the most modern navigational equipment, allows the ship to sail accurately in all weather conditions. This vessel has 14 cargo tanks with a total of 5,159 m3. It's about 92 meters long, 15.7 meters wide, with a depth of 7.8 meters. Fully loaded, it reaches a top speed of 11.5 knots per hour. It's design allows the tanker 20 days uninterrupted sailing without going to port.
Three oil tankers - the Hazar, Sumbar and Jeyhun - with a freight-carrying capacity of 7,000 tons and more, have been recently delivered to Turkmenistan.
At present, these vessels transport cargos along the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea, carrying raw oil from the Turkmen ports of Alaja and Ekerem to the oil-loading terminal in the Kenar settlement, from where oil goes to the Turkmenbashi oil refineries.