Viktor Vovk, deputy head of Rosmorrechflot (Federal Marine and River Transport Agency) has held a meeting on construction of the Viktor Chernomyrdin linear diesel electric icebreaker of Project 22600. Rosmorrechflot says the meeting covered the problems of building the icebreaker. A schedule for outfitting the ship at the Admiralteiskie Verfi shipyard was presented to the meeting participants who also marked a considerable increase of specialists involved for fulfillment of the order (about 600 people per day).
The meeting held on January 25 was attended by representatives of FSUE Rosmorport, United Shipbuilding Corporation, Baltiysky Zavod and Admiralteiskie Verfi shipyards.
Among the issues discussed at the meeting, was spending of allocated budget resource, reduction of the construction period, etc. The next meeting is slated for the second half of March 2018.
The 25 MW icebreaker of Project 22600 is being built as part of the State Programme on Transport System Development under the contract with United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC JSC). The most powerful diesel-electric icebreaker with RS class notation of Icebreaker8 AUT2 and icebreaking capability of at least 2 m is intended for escorting vessels in freezing non-Arctic seas and convoys of vessels on the Northern Sea Route. LK-25 is supposed to replace the Ermak icebreaker with the purpose to provide further assistance to vessels, perform auxiliary operations and ensure safe shipping.
The construction of 25 MW icebreaker of Project 22600 named Victor Chernomyrdin began in October 2012. Under the contract, the icebreaker was to be delivered to the customer, FSUE Rosmorport, in 2015. In April 2016, Yevgeny Zagorodny, the then Vice-President of USC for Civil Shipbuilding, told journalist that the delivery was scheduled for 2016. Then it was said that Baltiysky Zavod could deliver the icebreaker in late 2017 – early 2018. According to recent data the delivery is expected in autumn 2018.