Sunken dock to be salvaged in Murmansk - Russian industry and trade minister
MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax) - The floating dock that sank in Murmansk during the departure of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier will be salvaged, according to Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov.
"It will definitely be salvaged or else access to the harbor of the 82nd plant will be hindered," Manturov told the press on Monday.
A team of divers is cutting a piece of metal from the sunken dock to determine the degree of metal fatigue, he said.
"Speaking of repairs of the Admiral Kuznetsov, this problem will have no effect on their deadlines, considering that the next docking operation is due in summer of next year or in summer of 2020 according to the contract," Manturov said.
The problem of the dock for the Admiral Kuznetsov needs to be solved by then, he added.
"We have a number of options: we could either build a structure on the basis of the dry dock of the 10th plant, which is located across the gulf, or consider the acquisition of a ready dock. There are also alternate options of using the dry dock of the Sevastopol plant," Manturov said.
The dock sank while the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier was departing on October 30. One of the dock's cranes collapsed onto the ship's deck. The Admiral Kuznetsov was towed to the 35th Ship Maintenance Plant, an affiliate of the Russian United Shipbuilding Corporation's (USC) Zvyozdochka repair center, which will perform the main repairs of the aircraft carrier.