On 22 July 2018, Rosatomflot’s nuclear-powered icebreaker Taimyr completed escorting the Pskov tanker from the Gulf of Ob to the Cape Zhelaniya, which was the final icebreaker escort operation of Rosatomflot’s winter-spring navigation period. Between December 2017 and July 2018, nuclear-powered icebreakers of FSUE Atomflot escorted 253 vessels which carried 10,900 tonnes of cargo, says Rosatomflot.
“As compared to the previous year, the volume of carried cargo has almost doubled, - says leonid Irlitsa, Advisor to General Director of FSUE Atomflot. – The number of escorted vessels has decreased by 1.6 times, though. This statistics is eхplained by the characteristics of the escorted vessels: icebreakers of Rosatomflot tend to escort more gas carriers of up to 80,000 tonnes in capacity instead of small cargo ships. It is the Arctic fleet’s new leap forward”.
Today, nuclear-powered icebreaker Taimyr is waiting for the Chinese ship TIANHUI to start escorting a convoy of ships eastwards.
The first transit voyage in 2018 was performed by nuclear-powered icebreaker Vaygach. On 15 July it escorted the Andrey Pervozvanny, Boris Vilkitsky and Vladimir Rusanov tankers. On July 17, the Boris Vilkitsky and Vladimir Rusanov separated from the convoy and continued their independent voyages. The Vaygach finished escorting the Andrey Pervozvanny to Pevek on July 22. Now, the icebreaker is waiting for the first convoy to be escorted westwards. The Vaygach will escort three ships: tanker CLEAN PLANET, general cargo ship HLL RICHARDS BAY and gas carrier Andrey Pervozvanny.
Related link:
Rosatomflot extends its winter-spring navigation period amid challenging ice conditions >>>>