Russian Arctic Rescue  and Salvage Tug Delivered

Russian Arctic Rescue and Salvage Tug Delivered

Russia’s Federal Marine and River Transport Agency Rosmorrechflot has taken delivery of the rescue tugboat Kalas from the Nevsky Shipyard as the first multipurpose shallow-draft salvage vessel in a series of four to be built under Project MPSV12. Designed by Russia’s Marine Engineering Bureau-Design-SPb, the 80-meter by 16.5-meter vessels are all being powered by twin diesel engines rated at 2,610 kW to give a range of 4,000 nautical miles and an endurance of 30 days. The new vessels will be used for search and rescue operations as well as salvage and towing work in the Arctic.
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Russia’s Newest Nuclear Icebreaker Again Delayed

Russia’s Newest Nuclear Icebreaker Again Delayed

Delivery of Russia’s newest nuclear icebreaker Arktika has been delayed by troubles with its starboard 300-ton electric propulsion motor experienced during sea trials. This may require the motor’s replacement, a task that could delay delivery until late next year. The 33,500 ton displacement Arktika is the lead unit of Russia’s LK60Ya nuclear icebreaker program which includes sister vessels Ural and Sibir. The three vessels are all powered by twin RITM-200 reactors with a combined output of 175 megawatts and are being built by the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg at a cost of $550 million each. Because of the delays,…
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Continuing Development  in the Russian Arctic

Continuing Development in the Russian Arctic

The Russian federal government has approved an adjusted financial scheme to support construction of Novatek’s new Utrenneye natural gas terminal on the Gydan Peninsula located across the Gulf of Ob from Sabetta in the Russian Arctic. The revised agreement will see the federal government’s investment in the project increased to 103.2 billion rubles while Novatek will account for the remaining 60.9 billion rubles, an overall increase of 14 percent from the project’s original projection. At the same time the construction period of the project will be extended by two years with the facility now expected to come on line in…
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Ice-Breaking Tugs to be Built to Robert Allan Designs

Ice-Breaking Tugs to be Built to Robert Allan Designs

Scandinavian ship-assist companies Svitzer and Alfons Håkans have ordered a series of icebreaking tugs for port operations in Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Svitzer, now owned by Denmark’s Maersk Group, has ordered two 30-meter tugs to be built to a Robert Allan TundRA 3000 design by Med Marine’s Eregli Shipyard in Turkey. The twin vessels will replace the firm’s oldest boats, Svitzer Helios and Svitzer Dynan, when delivered toward the end of this year and in early 2021. The Turkish-built vessels will incorporate azimuth stern drives to give a bollard pull of 60 tons and will be completed to Finnish-Swedish ice…
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Finland and Sweden to Cooperate on New Icebreaker Design

Finland and Sweden to Cooperate on New Icebreaker Design

The Nordic countries of Finland and Sweden have agreed to jointly design a new series of icebreakers with two to be built for Finland and three for Sweden. The agreement is between the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency and the Swedish Maritime Administration. The design work on the ships will be carried out as a joint procurement, although no agreement has yet been made on construction of the vessels. The icebreakers are needed because of the larger size of commercial ships now calling at Finnish and Swedish ports as well as the age of existing icebreakers and new environmental regulations coming…
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Australia’s New Icebreaker Delayed 19 Weeks

Australia’s New Icebreaker Delayed 19 Weeks

Delays continue to plague Australia’s new icebreaker Nuyina being built by the Damen shipyard in Galati, Romania (see Pacific Maritime Magazine, Jan 2020). The new vessel, to be outfitted at the Damen facility in Holland, is now not expected to arrive at its home base of Hobart, Tasmania until November of this year. Because of this, plus required crew familiarization training, its first Antarctic voyage has been delayed until January of next year. The Australian Department of the Environment and Energy is studying contingency plans in order to have supplementary shipping capability available to undertake Antarctica station resupply operations in…
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Northern Sea Route Sees Record Traffic

Northern Sea Route Sees Record Traffic

The Northern Sea Route (NSR) above Russia saw record traffic in 2019 but the lion’s share was generated by the Yamal natural gas plant at the Port of Sabetta, which exported a total of 20.5 million tons of LNG. Other large cargo generators along the route were Nornickel’s plant on the Yenisey River that shipped 1.5 million tons of ore and Gazprom Neft’s Novy Port field, which shipped 7.7 million tons of petroleum, the latter transported by the company’s own fleet of six Arc7 ice-class tankers. According to Nikolay Monko, the Acting Director of the NSR Administration, a total of…
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Russia Planning to Deepen Arctic Rivers

Russia Planning to Deepen Arctic Rivers

Alexander Krutikov, Deputy Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic, has indicated that dredging is being planned to deepen a number of rivers in the Russian Arctic to enhance commercial traffic for both cargo and passengers. Some of the rivers flow into the North-Siberian Sea, part of the Northern Sea Route, which means that cargoes could be transshipped between river and ocean carriers. This past December Russian officials noted that they were also discussing dredging of the Ob and Irtysh rivers as well as the Anabar, Lena, Yana, Indigirka, and Koluma rivers, all of which are…
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Russian Icebreaker Movement

Russian Icebreaker Movement

Russia’s Rosmorport has positioned the 14,334-ton displacement icebreaker Novorossiysk, commissioned in 2017, to the Port of Vanino in the western Pacific to provide icebreaking support services for vessels operating in the Sea of Japan. The three-year-old vessel replaces the 12,288-ton displacement icebreaker Captain Khlebnikov, built in 1982, which has been moved to the Port of Prigorodnoye in Sakhalin Oblast to support expanding oil tanker and gas carrier traffic.
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Viking’s Polar Expeditions Ships

Viking’s Polar Expeditions Ships

Viking Ocean Cruises, which sent its Viking Sun on an epic 245-night voyage around the world this past summer, will name its two new expedition ships being built by Fincantieri’s VARD subsidiary Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris when they are delivered in 2022. The 30,150-gt Polar Class vessels, which have been specifically designed for work in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, will carry 378 passengers and a crew of 260. One of the ships is expected to operate to Arctic destinations from Tromsø, Norway while the other will be based at Ushuaia, Argentina for trips to Antarctica
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