Nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika, lead ship of Project 22220, undertakes assisting of M/V Engineer Trubin and M/V Polar King, says press center of FSUE Atomflot.
It is the first time for a ship of 22220 design to escort a convoy of vessels from east to west. Normally, icebreaker assistance in this sector of the Arctic used to end in November.
The escort operation began on 9 February 2022 in the port of Pevek. Rosatomflot’s icebreaker will be also assisted by diesel-electric icebreaker Kapitan Dranitsyn.
According to Leonid Irlitsa, First Deputy General Director of FSUE Atomflot, the convoy of ships will be escorted up to the ice edge of the Kara Sea. The Arktika will assist vessels along the entire Northern Sea Route from east to west.
Nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika operates under a contract on escorting convoys of ships carrying cargo for implementation of the Baimsky MPC project in the framework of the Priority Development Area “Chukotka”.
Ice conditions are challenging in the eastern part of the Northern Sea Route with ice thickness of up to 2 meters.
Icebreaker Arktika is to complete escorting of the convoy of ships by the end of February.
According to earlier reports, nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika assisted by diesel-electric icebreaker Kapitan Dranitsyn completed escorting M/V Yury Arshenevsky and M/V Engineer Trubin to the port of Pevek on 1 January 2022.
Nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika, lead ship of Project 22220, was built by Baltiysky Zavod shipyard. The multipurpose icebreaker was laid down in November 2013, launched on 16 June 2016 and put into operation on 21 October 2020.