Almi Tankers, the expansion-minded Greek wet-market operator, took delivery of its first of 10 suezmax tankers during a ceremony at Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering’s (DSME) main shipyard in Okpo, Korea. The 157,787 dwt Almi Horizon is the first of seven tankers being built by DSME to Lloyd’s Register class. The remaining tankers in the order are under construction and are scheduled to be delivered, to the latest environmental and structural standards, in 2012. “We share Almi’s excitement on their occasion of entering the suezmax market with a fleet of ships built to high environmental specifications that are beyond the requirements of compliance,” said Luis Benito, Lloyd’s Register’s Country Manager for Korea. “Designed and constructed by DSME, the success of this newbuilding project is a testament to the commitment of all stakeholders in this project, which started at the pre-contract stage and continued throughout the design and construction of the ship. “We are proud to have made a contribution to this ground-breaking project, providing risk services beyond the scope our classification, particularly with regard to the implementation of the ballast-water management system. Society is demanding safer, cleaner ships and we are using our experience and technical expertise to support their construction.” The ship has been verified by Lloyd’s Register to be in accordance with the voluntary energy-efficiency requirements of the IMO’s Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) for new ships. It is equipped with a UV ballast-water treatment system and features an Inventory of Hazardous Materials in accordance with Lloyd’s Register’s Green Passport service. Almi Tankers’ CEO, Panagiotis Drosos, said: “This successful delivery was greatly assisted by Nikolaos Vaporis, New Construction Project Manager at Lloyd’s Register, whose excellent level of service greatly helped us. For this we wish to extend to him and Lloyd’s Register our most heartfelt thanks.” Almi Horizon and six of her sisterships have been designed to be built to Lloyd’s Register’s Environmental Protection ‘EP’ notation, which recognises their enhanced features and demonstrates the owner’s commitment to, and investment in, environmentally friendlier ships. The tanker series was contracted in 2009 and is designed to comply with IACS’s Common Structural Rules and constructed in accordance with ShipRight Construction Monitoring procedures, while the accommodation arrangements comply with the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC, 2006). The ship has been enrolled in Lloyd’s Register’s Ship Emergency Response programme.