USC discussing with Turkmenistan construction of 10 cargo and passenger ferries for Caspian Sea

ST. PETERSBURG. June 16 (Interfax) - The United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) is discussing with Turkmenistan the construction of ten cargo and passenger ferries, USC CEO Alexei Rakhmanov said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"We are talking about one of our ferries that has already been designed. Our customers need about ten," Rakhmanov said.

A tentative estimation of the cost of one vessel is not available yet, he said.

USC is also discussing with its customers from the Caspian littoral states the construction of other types of vessels. "We plan to build container carriers and passenger vessels. Accordingly, we plan to build ferries and roll-on-roll-off vessels. There are specifics on some items, and we are at the stage of tentative negotiations on some items," Rakhmanov said.

The USC CEO noted an increase in demand for civilian vessels. "There has been an increase in demand for civilian equipment; we see documents being signed every month, if not every week," he said.

"We had and we still have a fairly big share of foreign vessels, those that are working with Russian tourists, cargoes. We are now talking about going over under the Russian flag and building in Russia as contracts in the countries where the vessels were built have become impossible for various reasons. Secondly, not all the equipment that was previously broadly used is now accessible," Rakhmanov said.