Russian state-backed vessel operators plan to expand their fleets of ice-breaking tugs and emergency response vessels with newbuildings
According to Russian reports, state departments and vessel owning entities are tendering for the construction of new vessels and tugs, with up to five multipurpose oceangoing tugs up for tender for ports in northern Russia.
These are required under the T3150 project and tenders are due in by 2 June. The specification calls for tugs with an overall length of 30-35 m, beam of 10-12 m and hull depth of 5-6 m with hulls ice strengthened to Russian Maritime Register of Shipping’s (RS) class Arc4 and a power plant generating 2-4 MW.
Along a similar timeframe, a tender is open for the construction of a 7-MW multi-functional rescue vessel as part of the MPS V06M project. Shipyards have until 3 June to submit their initial tenders and until 10 June for a second round of tendering.
This emergency response vessel needs to be designed and built to RS’s Icebreaker 6 class for salvage, towage and oil recovery operations with a length of 88 m, beam of 19 m, draught of 6.5 m, a speed of 15 knots and accommodation for 22 crew.
In addition, ice-breaking vessel operator Rosatom is looking to expand its fleet with at least three newbuildings by the end of the decade. Rosatom has reportedly stated it intends to operate eight nuclear-powered vessels, up from its existing fleet of five, by 2030. The latest addition to its icebreaker fleet is Arktika, built with 60 MW of power in 2020.
Meanwhile, Russian builder Onego Shipyard is set to launch an azimuth stern drive (ASD) tug this month. It is building this 33.7-m ice-breaking tug to Damen’s ASD 3413 ICE design for Rosmorport’s operations in the Arkhangelsk area of northern Russia for coastal towage and clearing sea ice. It has a beam of almost 12 m, draught of 5.3 m, speed of 12 knots and bollard pull of at least 45 tonnes.
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