Nuclear icebreaker 50 let Pobedy to escort large capacity vessels towards ports of Gulf of Finland

On January 31, nuclear icebreaker 50 let Pobedy of Atomflot FSUE left the port of Murmansk for the Baltic Sea, the company’s press center says. From February 1 the icebreaker commenced operations under agreement with FSUE Rosmorport on safe assistance to large capacity vessels bound for the ports of the Gulf of Finland.

The voyage will take 6-7 days depending on weather conditions.  When in the Gulf of Finland, the icebreaker will commence escorting large capacity vessels towards the Big Port St. Petersburg, Primorsk, Vysotsk and Ust-Luga.

Ice situation in the Baltic Sea is quite normal, intensive ice formation began in January and fast ice has formed at the northern shore of port Primorsk.              

It will be the forth year of Rosatomflot icebreakers to operate in the Gulf of Finland.  First was the Vaygach icebreaker which was deployed for operation in the Baltic Sea in winter 2011. It escorted 258 vessels over 50 days of uninterrupted work. From February 2 till April 18 of 2012, 322 tankers were assisted in the Baltic Sea by two nuclear icebreakers - 50 Let Pobedy and Rossija (137 and 185 vessels respectively.   During 90 days of 2013, Rossija escorted 355 vessels.