Rosmorport withdrew icebreakers from Zvezda
FSUE Rosmorport hands over the order for construction of two shallow draft icebreakers of Project 22740 from the Far East shipyard Zvezda (consortium of Rosneftegaz, Rosneft and Gazprombank) to its Petrozavodsk, Karelia based Onezhsky Shipbuilding, Ship Repair Yard. The delivery of ships is to begin in 2025. Analysts expect that handing over of the order will let cut the delay of icebreakers delivery.
In response to IAA PortNews’ inquiry, FSUE Rosmorport said that it would take over the order for construction of two shallow draft icebreakers of Project 22740 from the Far East shipyard Zvezda run by a consortium of Rosneftegaz, Rosneft and Gazprombank. The Agency’s source close to Zvezda Shipyard says it is not connected with the shipyard’s loading. Rosmorport does not comment on the reason of changing the shipyard.
Last week, the Karelia authorities said that RF Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev had inspected the works on modernization of Onezhsky Shipbuilding, Ship Repair Yard (Onezhsky Shipyard) during his trip to Karelia. According to the statement, the Federal Marine and River Transport Agency (Rosmorrechflot) is going to sign a contract with the shipyard on construction of two shallow-draft icebreakers. As Rosmorrechflot told IAA PortNews, the ships are ordered by Rosmorport.
Ships of Project 22740 are intended for operation in the navigation season in the Baltic, White, Azov and Caspian seas and on inland water ways as well as in other sea basins if necessary. The icebreaker’s length is 78.1 m, width – 16.8 m, draft -less than 3 m, icebreaking capacity — up to 1 m, crew — 24. The functions include escorting of ship convoys in challenging ice conditions, participation in operations on extinguishing fire on floating and shore-based facilities, participation in rescue operations.
The shallow-draft icebreaker features high maneuverability and propeller power (at least 6 MW), high level of automation (AUT1-ICS) with integrated system for control of ship equipment. That scope of automation allows for operation of the machinery plant with an unmanned engine room and a central control room.
FSUE Rosmorport is the world's largest owner of icebreakers fleet. Under the Comprehensive Plan for Modernization and Expansion of Core Infrastructure (CPMI), Rosmorport is going to build 10 icebreakers by 2030, reducing the average age of the icebreaking fleet to an average of 25 years. The plans include the construction of two 18 MW icebreakers (for the Baltic Sea and for the Far East), two support icebreakers of 12-14 MW (for the Baltic Sea and Arkhangelsk, the project development is underway), one port icebreaker of 6-8 MW (for the North-West Region, the project development is underway), and four 6.4MW shallow-draft icebreakers of Project 22740. The project on construction of the first two ships at Zvezda was signed in 2018 with no contract cost revealed. Onezhsky Shipyard is currently building two dual-fuel icebreakers of innovative Project 23620 for FSUE Rosmorport. Ships of Icebreaker 7 class and of 12-14 MW in capacity will be able to break through ice of up to 1.5 meters thick. With their unlimited area of navigation the can be operated round the year in the Baltic, White and Barents seas as well as in the seas of the Pacific Basin. The contract value is RUB 18.5 billion. In 2022, Onezhsky Shipyard commenced implementing the project on its deep modernization with over RUB 5 billion allocated from the federal budget. Read more in Russian.
Shipbuilding Complex “Zvezda” is building 35 ships, Oleg Kozhemyako, Primorsky Territory Governor said in early June. Its contracts include the construction of the Leader icebreaker, four multifunctional ice-class supply ships, more than 10 Aframax ships for Rosneft and Sovcomflot, 10 Arc7 shuttle tankers, one 69,000-dwt Arctic shuttle tanker, 51,000-dwt product tankers equipped for operation on gas fuel for NOVATEK.
A source in shipbuilding industry told IAA PortNews that shifting of the orders from Zvezda Shipyard to Onezhsky Shipyard can be attributed to two factors: postponement of the shipbuilding schedule due to the need to redesign ships and to change the main equipment of ships as well as to loading of the Onezhsky Shipyard run by FSUE Rosmorport, which can guarantee the construction completion close to the scheduled terms. Mikhail Grigoryev, Head of consulting company Gecon, believes that Zvezda is focused on construction of large vessels while 78-meter long and 17-meter wide icebreakers can be built at other facilities, such as Onezhsky Shipyard.
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