ST.PETERSBURG, December 9 (AVN) - Local shipyards are not planning to produce any ships for the Russian Navy before 2003, Anatoly Alexashin, head of the St. Petersburg economy and industrial policy committee, said on Thursday.
Over 80 percent of vessels which will be build at St. Petersburg shipyards in the next few years will be exported, Alexashin told the Military News Agency.
For example, Severnaya Verf will build two destroyers for China. Baltiyski Zavod is already assembling three frigates each costing 170 million U.S. dollars for India. Admiralteyskie Verfi is repairing two Amur diesel submarines for India. Besides, the plant is implementing a domestic civilian order. It is assembling five tankers especially enforced for exploitation in the Arctic Ocean for the Lukoil company, Alexashin said.
The backlog of St. Petersburg shipyards is estimated at over 1.15 billion dollars.