A new icebreaker is being built at the Baltic Shipyard on the order of State Corporation Rosatom. It is the fifth Project 22220 nuclear-powered vessel. These nuclear icebreakers are the world’s largest and most powerful vessels designed to ensure year-round navigation in the Arctic.
During the event, Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov and Director General of Rosatom Alexei Likhachev delivered reports.
The ceremony was also attended by Minister of Transport Roman Starovoit, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District Alexander Gutsan, Head of the Presidential Directorate for National Maritime Policy Sergei Vakhrukov, St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov, Governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Area Vladislav Kuznetsov, Chair of the Council of the Sirius Federal Territory and Head of the Talent and Success Educational Foundation Yelena Shmeleva, Director General of the Baltic Shipyard Alexander Konovalov, and Director General of United Shipbuilding Corporation Andrei Puchkov.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, good afternoon! It is a pleasure to see you all.
Today marks a major and meaningful event related to the large-scale development of the Arctic, Siberia, and the Russian Far East.
Today in St Petersburg, a new nuclear icebreaker Chukotka will be set afloat from the slipways of the Baltic Shipyard. I congratulate everyone on this significant milestone in the history of our modern icebreaker fleet. And, of course, I thank the specialists involved in this work for their dedication and high professionalism.
The nuclear icebreaker Chukotka will be the fourth serial icebreaker built under this project. One icebreaker was built before that series had been launched. Two more ships of the same class, Yakutia and Leningrad, are under construction at the Baltic Shipyard.
Next year, as agreed, icebreaker Stalingrad of the same series should be laid down. In addition, the next-generation nuclear icebreaker Leader, the most powerful so far, is being built at Zvezda shipyard in the Far East.
The construction of these powerful modern vessels is yet another embodiment of Russia’s industrial, scientific, technological and human resources potential. It is on the basis of domestic technologies and breakthrough scientific solutions that the national economy should develop.
I would like to repeat that our plans to develop our Arctic territories and to increase cargo traffic along the Northern Sea Route rely on expanding Russia's icebreaker fleet.
As you know, we have ambitious plans in this area. There is a great deal to be done. In this context, I suggest holding a special meeting on this subject, thoroughly preparing and comprehensively discussing all aspects of advanced development of the Northern Sea Route, so that we find concrete practical solutions. This is exactly how we approached the development of the Eastern Operating Domain and the modernisation of the Baikal-Amur and Trans-Siberian railways.
In particular, we will need to consider options to create a more efficient pricing model for icebreaker freight transit, so that more carriers and shippers can afford such services, especially since both Russian and foreign companies are showing more and more interest in this route with each passing year, and I am sure this interest will only grow.
Overall, we will need to seriously improve the safety and reliability of shipping in that region. To this end, we will continue to improve the quality of satellite navigation and communication, ice monitoring, upgrade infrastructure of Arctic ports and build the necessary railway access routes to them. In particular, we will need to expand and increase the capacity of nearby and distant railway access routes to the Murmansk Transport Hub, and to build a Northern Latitudinal Railway with potential extensions to the ports of Yamal, Taimyr and the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
In conclusion, I would like to wish good health to our shipbuilders and other participants of our Arctic projects and with them new major achievements for the benefit of Russia.
Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov has the floor. Go ahead, please.
Excerpts from transcript of ceremony for launching nuclear-powered icebreaker Chukotka
Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov: Our shipbuilders continue to augment the Russian icebreaker fleet, which is the largest globally. Since 2016, three new-generation nuclear-powered vessels – the Arktika, Sibir, and Ural – have been floated out from the Baltic Shipyard and are now working in the waters of the Northern Sea Route. Today, the Chukotka icebreaker will join this group as we are floating it out. In the coming weeks, we anticipate the delivery of another icebreaker, the Yakutia, which is more than 95 percent complete.
As you have already stated, Mr President, the Leningrad and Stalingrad nuclear-powered icebreakers will continue this series, with the flagship being the unique 120-megawatt nuclear-powered icebreaker Rossiya of the Lider class. Its construction is currently underway at Zvezda shipyard in the Primorye Territory, and an option to place orders for four diesel-electric icebreakers at this facility is being considered. Commissioning of these vessels will free up more powerful nuclear-powered ships to be used in the eastern sector of the Northern Sea Route where ice conditions are more severe.
Simultaneously, to fully utilise our main maritime route, we require a sovereign heavy-lift cargo fleet, including gas tankers, bulk cargo ships, container vessels, dry-cargo ships, and oil and LNG tankers. The aforementioned Zvezda shipyard is engaged in the construction of these vessels. Currently, the large tonnage order book stands at 26 vessels. Additionally, Zvezda's long-term plan until 2037 includes 92 ice-class cargo vessels to meet the needs of the Northern Sea Route.
Mr President, following your instructions to ensure a higher level of localisation and technological independence for our new fleet, we continue to develop production capabilities for critical shipboard equipment. We have allocated a separate subsidy for this purpose, under which 47 enterprises are designing 89 types of this new equipment. Starting next year, we will commence batch production of the initial items.
For the next three years, we have also allocated budgetary funds for these purposes, and we are independently developing and providing new mechanisms in the budget to stimulate demand for such critical shipboard equipment as we aim to enhance its competitiveness.
We are very grateful to our shipbuilders, particularly the staff of the Baltic Shipyard, for their outstanding work. Following maritime tradition, we have invited Yelena Shmeleva, Chair of the Council of the Sirius Federal Territory and a member of the Presidential Council for Science and Education, to become the godmother of the Chukotka icebreaker.
I would like to extend my gratitude to you, Mr President, on behalf of the entire industry, for your unwavering support for the full range of objectives that our shipyards are addressing today.
To be continued.