Italy-Russia collaborate in tug construction

Italian shipbuilder Cantiere Navale Vittoria has completed an €8M (US$8.9M) tug for the Russian Navy. Rome-Moscow was built at the Vittoria Shipyard in Adria, Italy, specifically for operations in the Barents Sea.

This 32-m tug was built with a bollard pull capacity of 65 tonnes that comes from two azimuthing thrusters.

It will be deployed as part of the Aspect Konversia project, which involves dismantling decommissioned nuclear submarines in the Barents Sea.

Vittoria Shipyard was commissioned in 2016 to build this tug by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development as part of the collaboration agreement between the Italian and Russian Governments relating to handling radioactive waste.

The hull of the tug was launched in September 2018 and delivered in May to the two Russian companies that will manage the vessel, SevRao and RosRao.

Rome-Moscow is en route from Italy to Russia and is scheduled to arrive in Murmansk in June.

It is capable of towing and pushing work in both harbours and the open sea, even when ice is present. It will be used for manoeuvring the floating docks that have been built as part of the Aspect Konversia project.

Rome-Moscow was constructed and checked in accordance with the regulations of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping for cold weather operations and has been classified ICE2.