Admiralteiskie Verfi and Roshydromet sign contract for designing and construction of North Pole ice-resistant platform (photo, graphics)
On 19 April 2018, Admiralteiskie Verfi JSC (Admiralty Shipyards) and Russia’s Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Roshydromet) signed a contract for designing and construction of the North Pole ice-resistant self-propelled platform (Project 00903). According to the shipyard, the contract foresees the delivery to the customer in 2020.
The document was signed by Maxim Yakovenko, Head of Roshydromet, and Aleksandr Buzakov, Director General of Admiralteiskie Verfi JSC.
“Today’s event marks the beginning of a principally new phase of striving towards scientific insight into the Arctic amid the melting of ice. And we are proud of Russia being the first here, – emphasized Maxim Yakovenko. – We are glad to have a very good partner, the Admiralteiskie Verfi shipyard, without which the project would just not be possible. Five years ago, Admiralteiskie Verfi built our best vessel, the flagship of the scientific research fleet, the Akademik Tryoshnikov. The traditions have been established and I am sure they will show an intense development.”
“Signing of the contract for construction of the ice-resistant platform is a very significant event for Admiralteiskie Verfi, – emphasized Aleksandr Buzakov. – We have been working on this project for two years already and today we have a clear idea about the technical design of the ship. The shipyard is happy to carry on the traditions of building ice-class ships going back to the nuclear-powered icebreaker Lenin and it is ready to build more and more sophisticated ships of both civil and military applications.”
The North Pole ice-resistant self-propelled platform is intended for round-the-year comprehensive scientific research in high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean. The specialized vessel is unique with high hull strength of Arc8 class, fuel endurance of about two years, service life of at least 25 years, crew of 14 members and scientific personnel of 48 members.
The all-season scientific-research platform with built-in equipment will be able to make geological, acoustic, geophysical and oceanographic observations, move in ice-covered waters without assistance of icebreakers and provide a helipad for МИ-8 АМТ (Ми-17) helicopters.
Admiralteiskie Verfi has an extensive experience in building ice-class ships. From early 2000-ies the shipyard has built a series of five 20,000 DWT ice-class tankers, 70,000 DWT Arctic tankers Mikhail Ulyanov and Kiril Lavrov and scientific-research ship Akademik tryoshnikov. The Ilya Muromets icebreaker built by the shipyard joined the fleet of for RF Navy in November 2017.
Specifications of the ice-resistant platform: length – 67.8 m; breadth – 22.5 m; displacement – about 7,500 t; power propulsion unit – 3,600 kW; speed - 10 knots.
Admiralteiskie Verfi OJSC (Admiralty Shipyards) is a key enterprise of shipbuilding, a centre of conventional submarine building of Russia. The shipyard is affiliated with the United Shipbuilding Corporation OJSC. A number of contracts are being successfully implemented at the shipyard for domestic and foreign customers. Four series of submarines are under construction now for RF and foreign Navies. Besides, icebreaker Ilya Muromets is under construction. The Company’s staff numbers 6,300 persons. On 5 November 2017 the shipyard celebrated 313 years from its foundation.
Related link:
Budget allocations for design and construction of North Pole ice-resistant self-propelled platform to total RUB 6,966.6 million (document) >>>>
