Rosatom, Baltic Shipyard to sign contract for building 5th, 6th icebreakers of Project 22220 by yearend - minister
ST. PETERSBURG. Nov 22 (Interfax) - The Rosatom state corporation and Baltic Shipyard of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) will sign a contract by the end of this year to build the fifth and sixth 60-MW icebreakers of Project 22220, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said at a ceremony where the third icebreaker of the series, the Yakutia, was launched on Tuesday.
"The construction of an icebreaking fleet and the addition of the fifth and sixth icebreakers to the family of 60-MW ships is your decision, your support, and we will definitely do it. By the end of this year, Rosatom will sign a contract with the Baltic Shipyard and a broad range of partners to provide rhythmic construction of the icebreakers," Manturov said, as he addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin at the ceremony.
Icebreakers of Project 22220 will be leading ships through the Arctic, the Yenisei River, and the Gulf of Ob, will be towing ships and other maritime structures through ice and clear water, and will be accomplishing other tasks. The icebreakers have a length of 173.3 meters, a width of 34 meters, and a capacity of 60 MW. They can safely travel through 2.8-meter-thick ice.
The keel of the lead icebreaker of Project 22220, the Arktika, was laid at the Baltic Shipyard in November 2013. The icebreaker was launched in June 2016 and commissioned in October 2020.
The contract for building the first and second serial icebreakers of Project 22220, the Sibir and the Ural, was signed between the Baltic Shipyard and the Rosatom state corporation in May 2014. The contract had a value of 84.4 billion rubles. The Sibir joined the Russian nuclear-powered fleet in December 2021, and the Ural was launched in 2019. As the Yakutia icebreaker was launched on Tuesday, the Russian flag was raised onboard the Ural.
Nowadays, the Baltic Shipyard is building the third and fourth serial icebreakers of the project, the Yakutia and the Chukotka. Their commissioning is planned for 2024 and 2026, respectively. The cost of construction exceeds 100 billion rubles.
"Today's launch of the Yakutia icebreaker, the construction of which will be finalized and which will be commissioned in 2024, is yet another proof that we are constantly enhancing our competences that are necessary for building our leader, the 120MW Rossiya icebreaker, which is under construction on the slipways at Zvezda in the Primorye Territory," Manturov said on Tuesday.
The construction of nuclear-powered icebreakers will be accompanied by the development of a fleet of diesel icebreakers, he said.
"Besides 60MW ships and the unfinished 120MW ship, we are making plans and working with potential clients, such as Novatek , Nornickel and Rosneft , on the construction of diesel icebreakers so that nuclear-powered ships could ensure year-round navigation along the Northern Sea Route and diesel icebreakers could be used in the Gulf of Ob," he said.