A keel-laying of a passenger ship for cruises on the Caspian Sea was hosted Monday, August 15 at Astrakhan, Russia based Lotus Shipyard. The ceremony was broadcast live during a meeting of the State Council on Russia's Inland Waterways Development in Volgograd. The meeting was chaired by President Vladimir Putin.
Two Russian shipyards, the Astrakhan Lotus Shipyard and Nizhny Novgorod based Kransoye Sormovo were awarded contracts for two cruise vessels. The contract for four-deck cruise ship is valued at about RUB 2.5 bn. The ship will be 141 meters in length, 16.5 meters in breadth, to accommodate 300 passengers. The payback period will take 15 to 25 years.
The 300 and 500 passenger capacity cruise ships were designed by Marine Engineering Bureau.
JSC Shipyard Lotus (a subsidiary of MNP-Onshore & Offshore Group) operates two shipyards in Astrakhan region and specialized in construction of modules of topsides for offshore platforms. The company repair ships hulls, hull systems, and machinery. Since 2012 the shipyard is managed by United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC). The main shareholders are USC, Caspian Energy Group and the Government of the Astrakhan region.