OREANDA-NEWS. September 12, 2008. The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman David Lewis, began a visit to Russia on 9 September 2008, heading a delegation of British business representatives.

On 10 September he and his delegation visited the Moscow office of Sovcomflot as part of the Lord Mayor’s programme of discussions with Russia’s maritime community.

During his official meeting with Sovcomflot’s senior management., the Lord Mayor was informed about the Group’s activities - something viewed by the Russian hosts as a sound basis for developing mutually beneficial relations between the Sovcomflot Group of Companies and their British partners.

During the meeting, the parties also discussed other important ways to progress relations between the two countries in the sphere of shipping.

The Lord Mayor of the City of London is the head of the City of London Corporation governing the City. He presides over its governing bodies, i.e. the Court of Aldermen and the Court of Common Council. Within the City of London, the Lord Mayor stands below the Sovereign only. Outside the City his status is equal to the status of the Cabinet member. The Lord Mayor is elected each September from the members of the Court of Aldermen.

Sovcomflot Group is Russia’s largest shipping company. Its fleet is amongst the five largest tanker companies in the world and comprises 130 vessels with a total deadweight (dwt) of 9.1 million tonnes. The Group has a new-building order book of 30 vessels with an aggregate deadweight of 2.9 million tonnes. The average age of the tanker fleet is about six years (the world average age is 12 years). The Sovcomflot Group is the global leader in the product carrier and Aframax tanker segments as well as ice-classed LNG tankers and Arctic shuttle tankers. These market segments are the most in demand for Russia’s foreign trade.