25 MW icebreaker Victor Chernomyrdin which is under construction at Baltiysky Zavod shipyard in Saint-Petersburg is to be delivered to the customer in the fourth quarter of 2018, Yevgeny Zagorodny, Vice-President of United Shipbuilding Corporation, told IAA PortNews.
According to him, nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika will be ready to undergo ice trials by the end of 2018 as well.
Icebreaker of project 22600 is a powerful diesel-electric icebreaker (25 MW) with a wide range of functional capabilities. It is being built under the programme on renovation of the national icebreaking fleet. The icebreaker named Victor Chernomyrdin was laid down in Saint-Petersburg on October 10, 2012.
The ship is to be used as an auxiliary vessel for escorting convoys in challenging ice conditions at the Northern Sea Route or for independent assistance to vessels in shallow Arctic areas, and in estuaries of rivers, for helping to unload cargo on land-fast ice, for towing ships and other floating constructions in ice and in plain water, for expeditor voyages, firefighting at vessels and oil-extracting platforms.