A ceremony to lay the keel of a multifunctional emergency rescue vessel, Design MPSV07, with a power of four megawatts, is to be held at the Nevsky shipbuilding and repairing yard, Itar-Tass reports. Russian Minister of Transport Igor Levitin is expected to attend the ceremony, an official at the management office of the shipyard said.
The rescue boat will operate in the Black Sea. The boat will be 73 metres long, have a deadweight of 1,171 tonnes at keel draught, a maximum power of 2 by 2,000 kwt, and a speed of 15 knots.
The vessel will be built in implementation of the Sea Transport subprogramme of the Federal purpose-oriented programme for the development of the transport system of Russia (2010-2015). The document provides for the construction of four such vessels.
At the close of the construction, the ship will be turned over to the State Sea Rescue Service of Russia with a view to ensuring emergency rescue preparedness to accomplish tasks to render assistance to people and ships in distress at sea, and eliminate the aftermath of shipwrecks within the established search-and-rescue areas of the Russian Federation. The rescue boat is to be commissioned in November 2010.
The Nevsky shipbuilding and shiprepairing yard, located in Shlisselburg, 40 km from St Petersburg, on the left bank of the Neva River, is one of the oldest water transport enterprises in northwestern Russia. Since 1952 the shipyard has been building sea- and river-going ships of various classes and purpose, as well as providing all types of shiprepairing services. The shipyard's slip makes it possible to launch and lift ships up to 140 metres long and with a dock weight of up to 2,500 tonnes.