NOVATEK and Rosneft will have ships of unified design built at Zvezda shipyard
Six icebreakers to be built at the expense of companies operating in the Arctic and Rosatom will be powered by diesel fuel instead of LNG. Some companies have already rejected using LNG power plants while talks are being conducted with other companies, IAA PortNews correspondent cites Maksim Kulinko, Deputy Director of Rosatom’s Northern Sea Route Directorate, as saying at OMR 2022 in Saint-Petersburg.
The companies operating in the Arctic are revising their plans amid sanctions.
“As of today, we are talking about six non-nuclear icebreakers the construction of which is to be financed by Rosatom, Nornickel (2 ships), Rosneft (2 ships) and NOVATEK (2 ships). Previously, we were looking into construction of icebreakers powered by LNG but amid sanctions and revision of the plans, at least Nornickel and Rosneft confirm their interest in construction of four diesel icebreakers, and we are discussing it with NOVATEK. We aim at serial production of ships but intended for different customers the ships will not be the same. By today, we have agreed that NOVATEK and Rosneft will have ships of unified design with 40MW engine built at Zvezda shipyard. Nornickel’s ships will be of a different design with engine power of up to 45 MW,” said Maksim Kulinko.
In January 2022, Helsinki Shipyard Oy said it had been awarded with a shipbuilding contract by MMC Norilsk Nickel. The construction is to be completed by winter season of 2025. According to the statement, the new icebreaker is to be equipped with integrated dual-fuel diesel-electric power plant able to run on both LNG and low-sulfur diesel fuel. The vessel will have Icebreaker8 class notation of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RMRS). It will be able to break through 2-meter thick ice. The ship’s future area of operation is the basin of the Yenisey river, the Yenisey bay and the Kara Sea to ensure the access to the port of Dudinka. Homeported in Murmansk, the icebreaker will have a task of making a channel along the Yenisey river for Arctic Expresses ships of Nornickel fleet as well as towing additionally deployed ships of Arc5 class with deadweight of up to 20,000 tonnes.
When speaking at the SPIEF 2022, Sergey Dubovitsky, Senior Vice President of Nornickel, told IAA PortNews about restrictions faced by MMC Norilsk Nickel. According to him, the company will be able to estimate their impact on the project by September 2022.