RosMorPort FSUE has taken delivery of the diesel-electric icebreaker Moskva built by Baltiysky Zavod shipyard. PortNews IAA correspondent reports the document has been signed by Andrei Fomichev, Director General of Baltiysky Zavod and Yuri Parfeonov, head of RosMorPort FSUE.
The vessel’s home port is St. Petersburg. The Moskva is to be deployed for icebreaking assistance in winter navigation of 2008 in the Gulf of Finland. Sea trials of the new icebreaker were held in November.
The Moskva icebreaker is the first ship in a new generation of multipurpose icebreakers. The Moskva is the first icebreaker with a diesel-electric power plant to be built at a Russian shipyard in 32 years. During that time, all Russia's non-nuclear icebreakers were built abroad.
Baltiysky Zavod won an international tender for construction of the series of line icebreaker in July, 2004.
The Moskva-class icebreakers are designed to escort large-capacity tankers, to salvage and rescue ships caught in ice floes, to clean up oil and chemicals spills in open sea, and to fight fires on board ships in the Arctic. The icebreaker was designed by specialists of Baltiysky Zavod with participation of design bureau Baltsudoproekt. The line diesel-electric icebreaker is a double-decker with a helicopter deck to accommodate Ka-32 or Ka-226 helicopter. Displacement is about 10 thousand tons, length 116 m, beam 26.5 m, draft 8.5 m, speed in open water 17 knots. Complement is 25 men. The hull of the icebreaker is designed to break the ice of over 1 meter in thickness.
RosMorPort FSUE was established on May 15, 2003 according to the Government Decree dated September 25. The company was incorporated by the RF Government, RosMorRechTrans and Federal Property Management Agency. RosMorPort operates federal property in Russia’s seaports. RosMorPort FSUE comprises 19 branches, the competence of which covers 521 berths in 43 ports of Russia. The fleet of RosMorPort numbers 222 vessels including 22 icebreakers.
Baltiysky Zavod, JSC is one of the leading enterprises in the Russian shipbuilding industry (member of United Shipbuilding Corporation). Currently the Baltiysky Zavod shipyard specializes in construction of icebreakers and ice-classed vessels (with nuclear-powered propulsion, as well as conventionally powered), large commercial vessels for carrying various types of cargo, and naval ships. The company also manufactures a wide range of marine propulsion equipment and machinery for equipping ships built at the shipyard, as well as for supplying other yards. Baltiysky Zavod also manufactures heat exchanges for nuclear power plants and is a major producer of non-ferrous and core-mould castings.