The first innovative passenger catamaran of Project 23290 Grifon built by Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard, a part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, was presented yesterday, 19 October 2017, in the framework of the 3rd International Innovative Forum of Public Transport “Smart Transport”, IAA PortNews correspondent reports from Saint-Petersburg. While on its maiden voyage, the catamaran entered the water area of the Neva river.
The demonstration of the catamaran with the hull made of composite materials was held in the framework of the round-table meeting “Development of inter-regional water transport routes” organized by Interurban Transport Agency of Saint-Petersburg Transport Committee.
The vessel, was designed by Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard to the class of Russian Maritime Register of Shipping allowing for passenger transportation both along rivers and in marine coastal areas. The catamaran can accommodate 150 passengers, its length is 25.7 m, width – 9.03 m, draft – 1.5 m.
The catamaran was designed for operation in the water area of the Neva river and the Gulf of Finland. The vessel’s air draught of 5.5 m allows for sailing under the bridges.
The vessel can transport passengers to the distance of up to 1,000 km. Maximum speed – 29.5 knots. The catamaran can be operated with waves of up to 2 meters (seaworthiness – 4 points). Since there was no experience in certification of such vessels, the shipyard and the RS have jointly developed the requirements to materials and vessels built of such materials. Methods of material testing, design regulations and certification procedure were also developed parallel to the designing process.
Vessels of Project 23290 feature high maneuverability, steering performance and course-keeping qualities (moving both ahead and sternward), high resistance to rolling.
Competitive advantages of the new project as compared with vessels of Meteor type are high seakeeping characteristics, shallow draft (up to 1.5 m), lower cost of operation and maintenance, high speed, high passenger capacity, low noise level, repairability, comfortable, fast and safe embarkation/disembarkation of passengers, comfortable accommodation, etc.
OJSC Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard, a part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, was created in 1912. The shipyard has built over 500 warships and vessels of 43 designs for the Russian Navy and foreign customers. Currently, the shipyard builds missile boats, trawlers, passenger and work vessels for various purposes and is about to start the large-scale construction of mine warships of the new generation for the Russian Navy and foreign countries.
Today, the shipyard is the leader of composite shipbuilding in Russia and the only plant in the country to build warships and civil vessels of 4 types of materials: composite materials, shipbuilding steel, nonmagnetic steel, aluminum and fiberglass. The shipyard has mastered the technology of building hulls of composite materials through vacuum infusion method.
United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC OJSC) is the largest shipbuilding company in Russia. It was set up in 2007 with 100% federal ownership. The holding comprises 40 companies and organizations (major shipbuilding and shiprepairing companies as well as leading design bureaus). Currently, USC consolidates the bulk of the domestic shipbuilding complex. The Russian market is the main focus of the state corporation though it also exports its products to 20 countries worldwide.