Rosmorport’s diesel-electric icebreakers the Kapitan Moshkin and Kapitan Krutov commenced escorting to the north of the Sea of Azov a convoy consisting of 16 cargo ships, the Azov Ice Ops Headquarters said.
Previously, Kapitan Moshkin has finished towing the stricken ship Ivan Vikulov to open water, and the Kapitan Krutov has escorted a 11-ship convoy to open water from the port of Temryuk.
The icebreaker Kapitan Chudinov guided to the Don River a caravan of 10 vessels heading towards the ports of Azov and Rostov-on-Don and led six ships to the port of Taganrog. The icebreaker Kapitan Demidov escorted to the port of Yeysk five ships and headed for the port of Taganrog. These two icebreakers will soon escort a convoy from Rostov-on-Don, Azov, Taganrog and Yeysk.
As of 5:00 pm, March 11, there were 17 merchant ships in the Sea of Azov, 16 of them were en route and 1 damaged ship; 89 ships in the Azov Sea-based ports are ready to depart (12 ice classed ships). There are also 52 ships in the Black Sea ready to pass the Kerch Strait, 5 of them have ice-class hulls.