BAKU, August 3 (RIA Novosti) - The Nizhny Novogrod-based Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard has launched a Project 19619 tanker with a deadweight of 13,000 tons for the Turkish shipping company Palmali Group.

The vessel, christened Massaly, after a region in southeast Azerbaijan, will operate in the Caspian Sea and be based in Azerbaijan.

Under a current contract, the shipyard is to build another three Project 19619 tankers, with two to be delivered in November 2007, and the third in November 2008.

The tanker, designed to carry crude and oil derivatives, has a double hull, preventing oil spills in case of accidents.

The Massaly, 150 m long, 17.3 m wide with a crew of 21 and capable of 20-day long voyages without refueling, will be the largest tanker in the Caspian basin, capable of calling at any port and accessing other seas via the Volga-Baltic sea route.

It is the eighth 13,000-ton tanker that has been built at the Kranoye Sormovo shipyard.