Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard lays down first two recreational ships of Sommers design for Land of Forts cluster
The shipyard has also laid down the second pair of passenger catamarans of Kotlin design
Saint-Petersburg, Russia based Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard (a company of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) has laid down the second pair of passenger catamarans of Project 04580 Kotlin – Fort Aleksandr I and Fort Totleben, as well as the first pair of Project 04710 Sommers – Bastion and Ravelin, according to the statement of USC in its Telegram channel.
The ceremony has been attended by Victor Yevtukhov, State Secretary – Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation; Aleksey Rakhmanov, General Director of USC; Ksenia Shoigu, head of the project office for creation of tourism and recreation cluster ‘Land of Forts’; Yevgeny Ditrikh, General Director of State Transport Leasing Company (GTLK); Yury Nabatov, head of Neva Travel; Vladimir Seredokho, General Director of Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard.
The project on construction of six innovative catamarans of Kotlin design is being implemented with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and GTLK. The first two Kotlin catamarans named Kronshlot and Fort Peter I were launched in spring 2023 and will be put in service this navigation season. The contract foresees the delivery of the second pair in the navigation season of 2024, the third pair – in May 2025.
The Kotlin catamaran was developed by Saint-Petersburg based design bureau Forss Technologies with respect of operation specifics in the water area of Saint-Petersburg and the Gulf of Finland. Passenger capacity is 200 people, speed max – about 30 knots. The construction of the series is supervised by Russian Maritime Register of Shipping.
At SPIEF 2022 held in June, Land of Forts, Neva Travel and the Ministry of Industry and Trade signed an agreement on cooperation that foresees the construction of four Sommers catamarans with the delivery planned for 2024 and 2025. The shipbuilding contract was signed on 19 December 2022.
“New sightseeing and recreational ships Sommers of up to 120 passengers in capacity will sail to sea forts Kronshlot and Aleksandr I and service sightseeing routes in the Gulf of Finland. The ships will feature improved seaworthiness and will be equipped with the cutting-edge technologies,” reminded GTLK.
Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard JSC, a part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, was set up in 1912. The shipyard has built over 600 warships and vessels for the Russian Navy and foreign customers (13 countries worldwide). Currently, the shipyard builds missile boats, trawlers, passenger and work vessels for various purposes and is about to start the large-scale construction of mine warships of the new generation for the Russian Navy and foreign countries. Today, the shipyard is the leader of composite shipbuilding in Russia and the only plant in the country to build warships and civil vessels of 4 types of materials: composite materials, shipbuilding steel, nonmagnetic steel, aluminum and fiberglass. The shipyard has mastered the technology of building hulls of composite materials through vacuum infusion method.
Photos from the Telegram channel of Ksenia Shoigu