Webinar “From Volga to Yenisey: will river cruise shipping survive?” begins at noon on 17 June 2020
Registration required for online participation. Event partner - NEVA exhibition.
IAA PortNews and Marine Engineering Bureau will hold their 5th webinar on IWW shipping on 17 June 2020.
The webinar “From Volga to Yenisey: will river cruise shipping survive?” begins at 12.00 (Moscow time) on 17 June 2020. The event will focus on construction and operation of cruise ships in Russia. The Event Partner is international exhibition NEVA.
The discussion will be held in the format of a roundtable meeting with the basic report to be delivered by Professor Gennady Yegorov, D.Sc. in Engineering, General Director of Marine Engineering Bureau.
The list of participants includes Konstantin Anisimov, Deputy Head of Rosmorrechflot; Rishat Bagautdinov, General Director of Vodohod; Bakhtier Kasimov, General Director of Moscow River Shipiing Company; Dmitry Ryabov, Advisor to General Director of Passenger Fleet LLC (Viking River Cruises); Aleksey Palgov, First Deputy to General Director of Volgotrans LLC; Igor Ivashin, Deputy Director of STLC Client Service Department, and representatives of other key players of the industry.
River cruises are a popular segment of tourism which is well developed worldwide. Apart from cruises offered in Europe, USA, China, Egypt and Russia, new routes appear in Belarus, Portugal, France, etc. Besides diversification cruise industry sees improvement of river-going ships quality to meet the ever growing requirements of clients.
The trends of the domestic market are similar to those of the European one which has seen the growth of cruises from 2013. In 2019, the fleet of river cruise ships was expanded with 20 new vessels; the year of 2018 saw the delivery of 10 river cruise ships and modernization of 3 units including one conversion project.
Russian fleet of river cruise ships is getting worn out and obsolete. More than 30 Russian ships were underwent modernization over the recent five years including 13 large-scale modernization projects that considerable enhanced the level of comfort for passengers.
However, not all existing river cruise ships have been upgraded in compliance with modern requirements. Not all types of ships can be converted while the costs can be as high as 30-50% of new ship construction, hence scrapping of some river cruise ships.
Scrapping of soviet time ships is on the rise. Formally 124 ships with average age of 45.2 years are in operation (actually, the number is less – about 90). By 2025, about 83 river cruise ships can continue operation including new ones, by 2030 this number will decrease to about 51.
Total passenger capacity of 24,600 people as of 2019 will decrease to 11,630 people by 2030 (down 53%).
There are several ships under construction - two ships of ПКС-180 design, Mustai Karim of PV300 design, sea trials of which have been completed (the delivery is scheduled for 2020), Peter the Great of PV300VD design (floated out with the delivery scheduled for 2021). Ships of new designs have adequate drafts (PV09 – 1.80 m, PV300VD – 3.20 m, PV300 – 3.00 m) and offer “five-star” opportunities demanded by the clients. However, there are few of such ships.
To save river cruises in Russia for both foreign tourists and Russian citizens, construction of new passenger ships is needed for a mid-term and long-term period. Those can be cruise passenger ships for traditional river routes of Russia’s European part (PV300, PV500VB, PV09, ПКС-180 etc.), and ships if mixed navigation able to operate in coastal areas and on river routes including those along Yenisey, Lena, Ob and Amur (PV300VD, PV11 etc).
How to participate?
Preliminary registration is required for online participation in IAA PortNews webinars (av@portnews.ru). Free registration is available for no more than two representatives of one company! Discussion with speakers will be possible through written questions or verbally upon moderator’s invitation.
The webinar records will be available free of charge on the PortNews resources including its social networks.
The event video will be available through information resources of the webinar partner, Organizing Committee of the NEVA exhibition.
The next event to continue the discussion of river passenger transportation is slated for 25 June 2020. IAA PortNews will hold a video conference dedicated to operation of small pleasure boats on regional routes. Invited to participate: ship owners of Moscow and Saint-Petersburg, representatives of Saint-Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod Transport Committees, manufacturers of leisure and high-speed passenger ships, operators and industry regulators.
