Icebreakers escorted 16 ships at Big Port St. Pb
Seven icebreakers of Rosmorport (the Kapitan M. Izmailov, the Kapitan Dezhnev, the Kapitan Zarubin, the Kapitan Plakhin, the Ivan Krusenstern and the Mudyug) have escorted in the last 24 hours 16 merchant ships at Big Port of Saint-Petersburg, a spokesperson for Rosmorport said.
Overall, since the beginning of ice navigation season in the Russian ports of the Gulf of Finland icebreakers of Rosmorport have performed more than 160 vessels escorts.
Previously, Big Port St. Pb Harbourmaster on December 4th introduced first ice restrictions, imposing mandatory icebreaking assistance to ships making calls at Big Port St. Petersburg. the Port Authority introduced restrictions on ice-class of vessels sailing to / from the port, effective as of the midnight of December 24, 2012.
From the date, according to the order, the ATBs will be banned from entering the harbor and ships without ice class hulls should be escorted by icebreakers. The vessels having any ice-class are permitted to sail independently using the regional icebreaking operations center’s notice or may request the icebreaker assistance.
Earlier, Rosmorport said it would deploy its own 14 diesel-powered icebreakers and one nuclear-powered vessel of Atomflot in the Russian part of the Gulf of Finland to ensure safe and smooth shipping in the 2012-2013 winter navigation season.