National shipyards should play key role in large-scale energy and transportation projects, Vladimir Putin says
It is of principle importance to bring national shipyards to the fore in large-scale energy and transportation projects, Vladimir Putin said at a meeting on the construction of a shipbuilding centre at the Far East Zvezda plant.
«A shipbuilding cluster in the Far East must become a major production centre building and servicing vessels of various classes, primarily for the domestic market. There is a demand for such a facility on the part of domestic buyers; therefore, the shipbuilding capacity will be in demand.
Russia’s leading oil and gas companies are planning to continue the development of oil and gas fields in the Far East and on the Arctic shelf. The significance of the Northern Sea Route will be growing year by year, as we have been saying recently, and Russia’s civilian fleet needs an upgrade as well.
All this means a great demand for reliable modern vessels and it is of principle importance to bring national shipyards to the fore in the contest for these jobs. Large-scale energy and transportation projects should use national capacities rather than foreign ones. This would mean growing competence, collection of taxes and new jobs.
Meanwhile, our shipbuilders have to offer high-quality products, which would be better than what their foreign competitors offer, better than similar foreign makes in terms of such characteristics as price, construction rates, speed and repair quality,” Kremlin press center cites the President.
“I would like to remind you that the shipyard at Bolshoi Kamen we will be talking about today is being built from scratch, so to speak. Its first stage is to be completed by the end of 2016. I would like to note here that this was never a full-cycle shipbuilding facility; therefore, we need new production skills and personnel training here.
This is definitely an issue of major significance, typical not only of the Far Eastern shipbuilding centre, but of the entire sector. I am referring to the shortage of experts of all levels – workers, production engineers and engineers. Unfortunately, we lack modern corporate and project management systems.
This requires a systematic approach: from personnel training to setting up engineering centres and resolving numerous social issues. We should of course, use foreign experience where appropriate, and form technological alliances with leading world producers,” Vladimir Putin said.
