Rosatom’s Hydrographic Enterprise picks Marine Engineering Bureau
Naval architecture and marine engineering firm Marine Engineering Bureau-Design-SPb (MIB) will develop engineering design for an Arc 7 multipurpose ship for Hydrographic Enterprise (part of State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom) which manages the infrastructure on the Northern Sea Route. MIB was announced winner in a tendering process among other five bidders for contract. MIB proposal (RUB 48.1 million) for contract price appeared to be the lowest. Experts say the that the RFP process attracted so many participants since no major projects are expected next year.
The results of RFP process held by Hydrographic Enterprise were published on the public procurement website. The protocol names among bidders the following companies: MIB, Cranship, XC Marine Design, Shipbuilding Engineering Centre, as well as less known companies Energy Efficiency LLC and ERA Marine. Initial contract price was valued at RUB 98.3 million.
The second bid proposed by Energy Efficiency LLC was RUB 60 million, for which the company was ready to perform design contract. Cranship’s proposal was RUB 65.1 million, XC Marine Design - RUB 71.8 million, Shipbuilding Engineering Centre - RUB 95 million, and ERA Marine - 95.5 million rubles.
Marine engineering firm Vympel (part of USC) told IAA PortNews that they had decided not to participate in the tendering process. “After reviewing the materials of the tender documentation, our bureau made a value assessment that, probably, the development of a detail design was organized for a specific, existing project,” Vympel said.
According to the RFP requirements specification, the criteria for evaluating proposals took into account the experience of participating in previous projects. In particular, Hydrographic Enterprise handpicked the design of a MPSV07-series 4 MW salvage vessel (previously developed by MIB) as an example.
“The multipurpose Arc 7 vessel will have an unrestricted navigation and will operate on the Northern Sea Route shipping lanes, and perform international voyages. The vessel will be a versatile: it is designed to carry out hydrographic research, maintain navigation equipment, towing, liquidate emergency oil spills, perform underwater technical and rescue operations - in ice conditions and in clean water. In addition, the vessel will be equipped with its own loading and unloading facilities for unloading onto berths not equipped with cranes, ”the FSUE told PortNews.
Director of the Marine Engineering Bureau Alexander Egorov commented: “Spending cuts for development of this project will be achieved through the use of existing HSV05.01, HSV02.02 designs of multipurpose hydrographic survey vessels, using the documentation of multifunctional rescue and salvage vessels built to MIB design, and having similar characteristics and capabilities”.
Previously, Hydrographic Enterprise three times opened a tendering process for the design and construction of the lead Arc 7 hydrographic survey vessel. The last time it did not receive a single application from Russian shipbuilding companies. However, one application was submitted by Turkey based Kuzey Shipyard, but was rejected by the Single Electronic Trading Platform. The Murmansk stevedoring company, on behalf of the Turkish shipyard, challenged the tender results with the Federal Antimonopoly Service. However, the complaint was not satisfied, according to PortNews sources at the Turkish shipyard. The initial maximum price of the contract including financing from the state budget was RUB 7 billion. The vessel delivery is scheduled for 2024.
Today, Hydrographic Enterprise has four vessels engaged in provision of hydrographic support in the water area of the Nothern Sea Route.
Alexander Bengert, General Director of Hydrographic Enterprise, the absence of an engineering design ruled out the possibility of participation in the tenders for companies of large Russian shipyards. “We have made a decision and are ready to develop a detail design for the vessel in five to six months. We will open second tendering process for the construction contract in the summer of 2022. At the same time, we expect that the vessel completion and delivery deadlines (by the end of 2024) will not be postponed,” he explained in an interview with PortNews on the reasons for the failed tenders.
The state-owned enterprise is ready to finance the development of documentation from its own funds.
The November tender for the development of the ship's detail design has become highly competitive. This is because of a shortage of design work, the competition for which may be announced next year, said Nikolay Shablikov, Chairman of Nordic Engineering. He believes that the advantage of MIB was the developments on basic design of the vessel, which the marine engineering firm performed back in 2015.
“In fact, only MIB has the groundwork to meet the deadline for the completion of the project in May 2022, taking into account the work that will need to be done with the ship register,” added Nikolai Shablikov.
Read more about the survey of the bottom, navigation and hydrographic support to navigation, dredging in the water area of the Northern Sea Route in an interview with Alexander Bengert with the PortNews magazine >>>>
