On 11 September 2019, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, based Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard (a company of United Shipbuilding Corporation) held a ceremonial launching of the Mustay Karim cruise ship of Project PV300 for 329 passengers ordered by shipping company Vodohod, project designer Marine Engineering Bureau told IAA PortNews.
The vessel is being built under the tripartite contract signed in January 2017 by USC, Mashpromleasing and Vodohod with the delivery scheduled for quarter I, 2020.
The ship was designed in 2010-2015 by Marine Engineering Bureau by request of the Federal Marine and River Transport Agency within the FTP "Development of civil marine equipment for 2009-2016" ( the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation is the state customer and the coordinator of the program).
The four-deck cruise liner of Project PV300 is designed to accommodate 329 passengers in comfortable cabins for two persons (there are seven cabins for three persons – two adults and one child) of 17 to 46 square meters.
The ship will work at the Moscow - St. Petersburg, Moscow - Astrakhan and Moscow - Rostov-on-Don lines. Accommodation with five-star hotel infrastructure will be provided. There is a restaurant with a total number of places equivalent to the number of passengers, conference rooms (140 places), three bars, children's room, beauty salon, souvenir shop, fitness salon and a solarium on the open sun deck (700 square meters). Lifts connecting all decks, communications and toilets, enlarged passageways and absence of obstacles for wheelchairs are foreseen for physically challenged people.
PV300 ship is a modern cruise liner for the river and the coastal water of RF which will give the chance to make a water journey along the chosen route through the European part of the country. During the voyage vessel should call the ports where walking and bus excursions to cultural, historical, natural sights and coastal resort zones are organized. All types of leisure activities will be offered onboard the ship: bars, discos, sun bath, swimming in the pool, fitness, walks through vessel's open spaces or conversation with a wine glass in a hand, viewing beauty of coast, screening of movies or performances, visiting performance of actors or famous people, listening of lectures, participating in work of creative teams, communication with friends or just relaxing in a cabin with a French balcony.
The PV300 concept will work at the line Moscow - St. Petersburg, and also at lines Moscow - Rostov-on-Don - Sevastopol - Sochi, Astrakhan - the ports of the Caspian Sea; so due to Marine Engineering Bureau classification, this vessel is of the "Volga-Don Max" class.
For the usual "Volga-Don Max" vessels of the existing projects (projects 301 and 302) the number of passengers for the case of modern cabins makes 200-220. On the new PV300 concept with the same overall dimensions it is possible to arrange comfortably about 300-350 passengers.
Passenger cabins are located in the middle vertical zone on 4 superstructure decks. Cabins on three upper decks have own balconies with sliding sections that provide through deck pass at emergency situations.
All passenger cabins are equipped with double beds, lavatory and douche, air-conditioner, wardrobe, safe, TV set with satellite and internal vessel's channels, hairdryer, sockets 220V and 110V, wireless Internet (Wi-Fi), vessel's radio translation, external and internal telephone connection.
Four-deck cruise ship of Project PV300 has a length of 141 m, breadth – 16.8 m, depth – 5 m, maximum draft – 3 m, crew and personnel – 141, service speed – 22.5 km/h, endurance – 15 days (fuel)/5 days (other stores).
The vessel’s power plant consists of two diesel engines, 1,200 kW each; and auxiliary unit consisting of three 760kW diesel generators; emergency diesel generator of 214 kW; and a boiler-plant consisting of one 800kW thermal boiler and three heat recovery boiler of 170 kW each.
The lead ship of Project PV300 in the Nizhny Novgorod series, the Mustay Karim, was laid down on 28 March 2017 and launched on 11 September 2019.
Krasnoye Sormovo PJSC is one of the oldest shipbuilding companies in Russia, founded in 1849. Throughout the 75-year period, more than three hundred submarines and rescue vehicles including 25 nuclear ones have been built and modernized by Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard. Today, Krasnoye Sormovo builds vessels of commercial fleet meeting the requirements of international conventions on reliability and safety. Some of Krasnoye Sormovo tankers are in the list of Significant Ships of the Year by the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA).
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.