MOSCOW. April 11 (Interfax-AVN) - The Severnaya Verf shipyard in St. Petersburg will set afloat the Svyatoi Apostol Andrei bulk carrier, the first of Project Valdai universal bulk carriers, on Friday, a spokesman for the New Programs and Concepts (NPK) holding industrial company told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The vessel was laid down on January 26, 2001 at the order from the Northwestern steamship line. Both Severnaya Verf and the steamship line are included in the holding company.
The contract between the shipyard and the steamship line envisages construction of 10 vessels and commissioning of one vessel in three months. If the contract is implemented successfully, five to six more orders a year may be placed with the shipyard. Severnaya Verf is building three more vessels of the project at present. The Svyatoi Knyaz Vladimir was laid down on May 25, 2001, the Svyatitel Alexy on September 10, 2001 and the Svyatoi Georgy Pobedonosets on December 20, 2001.Their construction is progressing as planned.
The NPK press service said that most vessels currently in operation were built more than 20 years ago. Many Western ports have imposed limitations on the servicing of ships that have been in operation for more than 15 year, which affects competitiveness of the Russian fleet. About 200 vessels will have been written off before 2005 as a result of wear. Most of the vessels that have been built in Russia over the past few years are registered in offshore companies based abroad; therefore they sail under foreign flags.
The Russian Savings Bank has undertaken to lend USD49m for the project implementation. An agreement between the Savings Bank and Transport Ministry envisages repayment of 30 to 50 percent of interests out of budget funds.
Construction of bulk carriers is a component part of the shipyard restructuring and production diversification program that NPK is implementing. The project's distinguishing feature is development of a closed cycle of production, operation, modernization, repairs and scrapping of vessels in the framework of a single holding company, which is being done for the first time in the contemporary history of Russia.