The Ministry of Transport and Road Construction of the Kamchatka Territory, Nordic Engineering JSC and Russian Far East and Arctic Development Corporation JSC have signed an agreement on cooperation. The agreement is signed with the purpose to undertake measures for the development of Kamchatka Territory infrastructure through construction of two multipurpose tugs. The construction is to be financed by the federal budget under the state programme. Upon completion of the construction the ships will be handed over to the Kamchatka Territory, says Nordic Engineering.
According to the statement, the current geopolitical situation and the shift of Russia’s foreign trade vector from the west to the east makes the location of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky port highly beneficial for turning it into an international transport hub on the Northern Sea Route (NSR) connecting the countries of the Asia-Pacific Region the Northern Europe. Apart from the favourable geographic location, the port has a number of other advantages including a convenient nonfreezing bay, year-round navigation, facilities for storing and sorting of container batches for further loading onto special ships operating on the Northern Sea Route. One more factor contributing to the creation of an international transport hub in the port is the special economic zone established in the region to provide privileges for the development of both Russian and foreign businesses.
At the same time, the main limiting factor for increasing the investment potential, as well as the cargo and passenger traffic of the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, is the undeveloped infrastructure. The seaport is in dire need of auxiliary fleet vessels (tugboats) capable of ensuring the prompt mooring of large-tonnage vessels to berths in the port water area, particularly in difficult ice conditions.
Currently, none of the tugboats assigned to the port has the technical capability to carry out mooring operations for vessels from 201 to 220 m, either at the berths of the seaport or in places of ship-to-ship cargo transshipment in the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky water area. Besides, there are no auxiliary vessels currently available in the water area of the port or in adjacent territories that can be involved in firefighting.
The Government of the Kamchatka Territory, together with JSC Nordic Engineering, has developed a project for a multifunctional ice-class tug Arc 4, project NE034. Two vessels of the NE034 series will be able to ensure the safety of mooring operations, entry into the port of vessels with a length of 201-220 meters, performance of work in the water area of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, including towing and canting operations, firefighting and oil spill response operations, support of hydraulic engineering and other works in the port’s water area.
This project implementation will also increase the investment attractiveness and economic potential of both the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and the Kamchatka Territory as a whole. It is also important to take into account that in order to meet the construction deadlines and supply the necessary equipment for Project NE034, a list of domestically-produced ship components or, in some rare cases, produced by friendly countries, has been developed.
Key particulars of multifunctional tug of Arc 4 ice class NE034: LOA: 29.6 m; beam: 10.6 m; draft – 3.2 m; displacement — about 500 t; mass of the empty vessel — 352 t; endurance — at least 10 days; cruising range – at least 2,000 miles; class notation - КM⍟Arc4 (hull; machinery) R1 AUT3 FF3WS Tug.
Nordic Engineering JSC is one of the leaders in development of ship modernization projects. Over the recent two years the company has completed six concept designs, three technical designs and two packages of working design documentation.