Baltic Sea Ports Administration reports readiness of 6 line and 7 port icebreakers for winter navigation season

When speaking at the extended meeting of the Basin Commission involving representatives of agency companies and ship owners, Peotr Parinov, head of Baltic Sea Ports Administration, said that the fleet of icebreakers is sufficient for the winter navigation season with their preparation being more successful as compared with the previous year. According to IAA PortNews correspondent, the only ship not prepared by 1 November 2019 due to its maintenance is the Kapitan Plakhin icebreaker.

The maintenance works are to be completed by 27 November 2019. Rosmorport’s new icebreaker, Viktor Chernomyrdin, will be in reserve. The icebreaker that successfully completed her sea trials in October 2019 will join the fleet by the end of this year.

According to Aleksandr Volkov, Harbour Master of Big Port St. Petersburg, the layout of the icebreakers will see no changes this winter. 6 line icebreakers and 7 port icebreakers will operate in the Gulf of Finland this winter navigation season.

Aleksandr Volkov says that ice formation in the region is expected to begin in December, from the end of the first decade. That will be a slow and interrupted process with the more intensive ice formation to begin in January 2020. In most areas, ice thickness is expected to be close to the long-term annual average.

According to earlier reports of IAA PortNews, icebreaking assistance in freezing seaports of the country will be provided by 36 icebreakers of FSUE Rosmorport.