US$200m boost for Russian shipbuilding

Moscow - New yards, contracts and partnerships in engine manufacturing will result in a US$200m investment boost in the Russian shipbuilding industry in H1 2015, according to a recent report by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade. St Petersburg, Russia’s historic centre of shipbuilding, is a major focus of plans to develop the industry by 2030, writes Eugene Gerden. A modern shipbuilding complex will be built at the existing Severnaya Yard, one of St Petersburg’s largest shipyards.

Analysts at the ministry believe the new complex will have no problem attracting orders. The report noted that Russian shipyards are working at close to 90% of building capacity as a result of stable orders from major customers including Sovcomflot, Atomflot and Rosmorport. Construction of atomic ice-breakers and vessels for offshore development will be a priority for the Russian industry. Illustrating this, St Petersburg shipyard Baltic Shipyard-Shipbuilding has won a RUB 84.4bn (US$2.5bn) contract for the supply of two 22220 60MW nuclear-powered icebreakers.

The first will be delivered before 25 December 2019 and the second by 25 December 2020. Russian manufacturers will also aim to cooperate with foreign investors in order to boost the production of on-board equipment. One of Russia’s leading suppliers, Morskay Technika, recently signed an agreement with French company Nanni Diesel to jointly engineer ship engines with a capacity of up to 780hp. The engines will be sold to the Russian and, in due course, EU markets.

The ministry noted that cooperation with Western shipbuilding companies and manufacturers will be critical to Russian shipbuilding, which is hindered by a lack of modern shipbuilding technologies. That shortage has intensified since the imposition of EU and US sanctions on Russia, as well as the resulting countersanctions.

(Source: The MotorShip)