On August 1, Astra Marine Company Group jointly with the City Tour company presented a tourist vessel of new type dedicated for sightseeing along the rivers and canals of Saint-Petersburg with consideration of low bridges, says press center of the city tourism committee.
The project implementation is expected to unload transport infrastructure of the city with a new route linking Central and Petrogradsky districts with the Basil Island district by water ways of Saint-Petersburg.
The new vessel as a pilot project will commence operating in August 2013. The route starts at St. Isaac’s Cathedral – Bronze Horseman berth. It is to operate from 10:00 till 20:00, local time.
The new ship has accommodations for 100 passengers and feature sliding transparent roof (opening/closing time: 10-15 seconds). The ship's dimensions: length overall - 21,5 m, beam - 5.6 m, draft - 0.7 m. The vessels are being built in cooperation with Siam LLC at the facilities of Shlisselburg-based shipyard. The lead vessel of the series is ready for operation, the second vessel is nearing the sea trial. The project to R 1.2 class has been developed by Spetsprojekt CJSC to comply with the regulations of Russian River Register and New technical regulations on safety of inland water transport facilities.
The demonstration voyage allowed assessing of the vessel’s operational characteristics.
The next season will be marked by the introduction of 8 vessels of City Tour Canal Cruise with a possibility to combine the water route with the land route of City Tour.
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