Passenger vessels of Russian shipyards are too expensive, official says

High-speed passenger ships built by Russian shipyards are too expensive, Victor Olersky, Deputy Transport Minister of the Russian Federation, said at the meeting of the Presidium of the Marine Board under RF Government. According to the materials provided to IAA PortNews, Victor Olersky said such vessels have commercial prospects only in the regions having no other alternatives (Siberia). At the same time, it is necessary to work on the reduction of the product cost in other regions. Victor Olersky suggested building composite vessels as one of the measures aimed at cost reduction.

Besides, he says it is necessary to develop the system of operating lease with zero deposit via the state leasing company and to provide a compensative grant as a lumpsum covering of losses from high-speed ships operation.