On July 10, Rosmorport terminated the 2021 contract with its subordinate Onega Shipbuilding Plant for the construction of two innovative icebreakers worth 18.5 billion rubles (over $230 million).

At the same time, the plant has already received an advance payment of 9.27 billion rubles and must return it within five working days from the date of termination of the contract, The Moscow Times reports .

The contract provided for the construction of two 95 m long Icebreaker7 class vessels equipped with dual-fuel (diesel and liquefied gas) power plants with a capacity of 12-14 MW. After completion of construction, these vessels were to operate in the Baltic, White and Barents Seas, as well as in the Arctic Ocean in summer and autumn, with the ability to navigate in ice thicknesses up to 1.5 m.

However, construction has not actually even begun due to the imposition of sanctions. A planned subcontract at the Turkish shipyard Kuzey Star Shipyard fell through after the Russian invasion, and key imported components: the Azipod propeller-steering column from France’s ABB and the main diesel generator from Finland’s Wartsila cannot be purchased due to sanctions.

Currently, Rosmorport has 23 line-powered and 11 auxiliary diesel-electric icebreakers, and plans to order 10 more vessels by 2030. In total, the Russian icebreaking fleet has 41 units (34 diesel-electric and 7 nuclear).

Along with this, amid a shortage of funds, the United Shipbuilding Corporation began reducing staff at a number of shipyards, in particular Vympel and the Khabarovsk Shipbuilding Plant.

It was previously reported that one of Russia’s largest shipbuilding plants will lay off 70% of its staff due to a lack of orders. Джерело: https://censor.net/n3568819

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