Samsung Heavy Industries wins $440 mln ice-breaker order

Samsung Heavy Industries announced Tuesday that it won an order of 440 million U.S. dollars to build three ice-breaking oil tankers from a European shipping firm, which is the second contract following an order for three oil tankers in July this year.

The latest contract involves a 42,000-ton capacity ship that is 249 meters long, 34 meters wide. The tanker will be designed to travel 3.5 knots per second, break through ice up to 1.4 meters thick, and can operate in temperatures as cold as minus 45 Celsius degrees.

By winning the recent deal, Samsung Heavy Industries has earned a solid reputation as the world`s top builder of ice-breaking oil tankers. In 2005, the firm had won orders to build the world`s first bi-directional ice-breakers from Russian state-owned shipping company Sovcomflot and successfully delivered all three vessels by 2009.